The Starbird Chronicles
by Eishirou
Summary: Between NEXT and TRY, Lina Inverse, along with Naga the Serpent and a man named Starbird, embarks on a mission to the Northern Lands to counter the threat of an out-of-control Mazoku Lord.
1. Prologue: In Which The Scene is Set

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers or anything Related to it, except the three DVD collections ("Slayers," "NEXT," and "TRY") and the DVD of "The Motion Picture," none of which really count. However, as this work is intended only for the twin purposes of 'entertainment' and 'getting the story out of my system,' and I'll never in any foreseeable future or reasonable Alternate Universe get anything out of it, making a big deal out of it would be - pardon my candor - stupid.

P.S. This is my first ever published Fic, so Comments are greatly appreciated.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Prologue : At the Wedding of Princess Martina mel Navratilova Xoana and the Bounty Hunter Swordsman Zangulus

As the movie-set chapel teetered and fell, bringing the giant emblem of Majin Zoamelgustar down onto the crowd, there were two among them who gave no notice, other than to think how stupid it was to hang a giant, metal medallion on such an unstable wall in the first place. They were too busy investigating rumors they had heard among the crowd of the deaths of two of the five High-Rank Mazoku serving Ruby Eye Shabranigdo; this was in itself a distraction from their initial purpose - locating a certain semi-famous red-haired sorceress who was supposed to be there, and who was apparently the cause of the distracting events. One of the two, a medium-height, wiry man with eyes that looked purple and green at the same time (depending on the light), pushed his center-parted, five-inch-long black hair off his forehead and behind his ears in frustration; the white bangs immediately slid back to their previous positions. He turned to his companion.

"Ah, you said you saw our objective earlier, yes?"

"Yes, but she was with several traveling companions – We'd not be able to get to her." The short, cloaked servant shook his head, and added a rueful grin, revealing his sharp fangs. These were the only trait of his that were not hidden by the shadows; his shadowy, hooded, brown cloak concealed his hairless head, his long, pointed ears, and the mottled grey color of his skin and eyes, all of which marked him as a member of one of the Daemon races.

"Oh well, maybe later. You will investigate these rumors, then check on the... _situation up north, no? And see if you can locate her again on the way back. If she's still with others... Well, if this rumor is true, then it's even more important that we find her. I might have to risk it…"_

The Daemon nodded. "As you say, master Starbird." The servant's cloak also hid the fact that his upper limbs had more in common with the wings of a very large bat than with the hands of a human (though large, they fit into the cloak's sleeves when folded with the wrist and thumb where the hand should be and the wing-fingers folded back along the arm). These, combined with his sharp sight and superhuman hearing, made him one of his master's best and favorite scouts. 

Starbird watched his servant walk to the edge of the milling crowd and into a nearby clump of trees. A rustle of leaves let him know that the Daemon had taken off, in spite of the Invisibility charm he must have cast on himself. Starbird smiled his approval of the Daemon's efficiency; there would be a reward in that when he returned. Then, sighing, he turned and went back to his search. He stayed with the wedding until it broke up an hour later; then left for home himself. As he flew over the forest, he resigned himself to a long wait; even with the servant's exceptional speed, it would be a month before he returned.

He had not, of course, found the person for whom he was looking; though he had no way of knowing it, she had left with her friends while he and his servant were talking...

Author Note: Yeah, not much happened. This is mostly to set the scene and introduce an important Character. 

A few points of Clarification: 

1. Daemon (Pronounced DAY-mawn, rhymes with "hey, lawn") are not Mazoku. While they are still more-or-less demonic in appearance, if not character, they do not feed off emotions of any sort. They feed off food, just like humans. They also can use magic of all types safely, and usually better than humans; a Mazoku trying to draw on the power of the gods (White Magic) or another Mazoku (Black Magic) will usually be damaged in the process. They also come in many different types besides the Greybat seen here, including the stereotypical red devil and one that looks more-or-less like Dug/Dagu from "Dragon Half" – one of those, named Seth, was my first ever Slayers Original Character... Ahh, Nostalgia... I didn't know the specifics of Mazoku, having only seen the dubbed version of the first series, so I came up with a character who was a demon. Then, when I learned about Mazoku, I had to come up with that whole Daemon thing to explain the discrepancies. Happy memories... Of course, I could have just trashed the character, but what kind of person would I be then? He and the Dragon-Half (not the same as Ryuuzoku-half, for the same reason) character I created at the same time are still active, as it were; I might even write down some of the stories with my band of OCs some day.

2. I don't know if an Invisibility spell exists, or if one would work; However, I used it because (a) people would notice a five-foot-tall grey bat flying at over 60 miles per hour and (b) the guy can't teleport (or do whatever it is that Mazoku do).

Re: 1: Yes, most of my characters are based closely on other characters from other sources (or cobbled together from parts thereof); it's a weakness of mine: I see an interesting character and a place for them in a story develops in my mind before I know what's happening. That would be cool, but I also have a hard time writing the stories down... it's frustrating. The only saving grace, in my mind, is that they get so mixed up that they aren't outright copies; they either look or act different or have different backstories. For example: even Starbird, a thoroughly original Character, is based on an earlier character who has altogether too much to do with "Tenchi Muyo!," and the Daemon was originally a Gray version of Lexington from Disney's "Gargoyles," but I decided to make it different by changing the wings. My goal for this fic is to only use characters that are at least as original as Starbird. I trust I'll be informed if I fail.

^_^;;You prolly didn't want to know all that… Sorry.


	2. Chapter 1: In Which a Recipe is Prepared...

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers; if I did, it would be a lot longer and have about four spin-off series. Nor am I profiting from this story, except through the psychological benefit of getting it out of my head. Also, I have no source of income, so suing me would probably hurt you more than me. Starbird and Dulak, on the on the hand, _do_ belong to me, and I'd appreciate it if they weren't used by anyone else, at least for now.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 1: At Starbird Manor, in the Empire of Elmekia. 2 Weeks later.

He was in the kitchen when the news arrived; this makes sense, since he was cooking. He knew as well as anyone else that the kitchen in any place fancy enough to call itself a Manor was supposed to be the exclusive domain of maids and servants; he just didn't care. He _enjoyed cooking, and was secure enough in his masculinity to admit it. However, the servants and maids _did_ mind, and, despite his continued pleas, tried among themselves to pretend it wasn't happening._

In this latest case, however, he had been in there, working on his latest project, for over two hours, and it was beginning to cause tension among the staff who could not, on their consciences, enter. He knew this, but there wasn't anything he could do. When a magical recipe says to stir constantly over medium heat until it comes to a full boil, you stir _constantly over __medium heat until it comes to a _full_ boil, even if it takes all day and the building is falling down around your ears._

Of course, he wasn't preparing a magical recipe, he was making chocolate pudding. There was no need to be so careful, but he prepared enough magical recipes that he had fallen into the habit.

A sudden ruckus outside the kitchen door alerted him that the staff had a new distraction – instead of pretending he wasn't cooking among themselves, they now had someone else to hide it from. The door to the kitchen burst open, and the new arrival, shrouded in a brown cloak, stumbled into the room, dragging three kicking and screaming maids latched on to his waist and legs.

"Master Starbird... If you'd kindly call off the Lyzeillian Attack Maids..."

"Right. You three can go away now. The... ah... damage... is done." The three servants looked up, then let go and backed out of the room, bowing and apologizing the whole way while still averting their eyes. "I'm sorry," said Starbird, turning as much as he could while still stirring the pudding, "I wasn't expecting anyone, or I wouldn't be in here. They seem to think that it's shameful for the master of the house to be seen cooking, and they're very emphatic about not letting it happen."

"It's not your fault, I know." The cloaked figure removed his hood.

"Dulak? Is that you? Of course, I thought I recognized the voice..." The face was that of the Greybat Daemon scout he'd sent out from the wedding near Atlas City two weeks earlier. 

"Yes, master Starbird. I've brought you the information you asked for."

"About the Mazoku?"

"Yes. I can confirm the deaths of both Chaos-Dragon Gaav and Hellmaster Phibrizzo; I have the documentation right here, if you'd like to read it." The Daemon reached into the folds of his cloak with one thumb-claw and withdrew a sheaf of paper, which he laid on the table.

"Thanks, I'll trust your word. Um, aren't you back kinda early? I mean, normally, it takes you a month to make the circuit, and it's only been two weeks since you left..."

"That brings me to the second piece of information. The situation up north has gotten so much worse that I didn't even dare go more than half a mile out over the ocean. I headed straight back as soon as I saw that, so those missing two weeks are the entire northern leg of the circuit, from Kataart on."

Starbird froze in shock. Except for the hand that was stirring, of course; it kept on its merry way (old habits die hard. _Especially ones intended to keep you from getting blown up)."That's... not good. Not good at all..."_

"No. Luckily, I also spotted our target in Ralteague, heading toward Kalmaart. Alone."

"That _is_ good. Especially in the face of that last... Right. I need you to fly north to the port cities on Kalmaart's northern coast; try to find a ship going to the Northern Lands. Can you give me a map of her movement?"

"Already got one; it's at the back of the packet, there."

"Good man. Tell the butler to put you down for a double bonus before you leave. Anyway, you'll probably be searching for a ship for some time, but when you find one, book a place on it. Take a hundred gold pieces from the treasury; that should cover it... I'll go to her, see if she's up to it, and meet up with you in about two weeks; If I'm not there in three, come looking."

"I'll depart immediately. And you?"

"It'll take a while to get my stuff together, so I won't be leaving 'till tomorrow morning. You're welcome to stay..."

"No, I think I'll get a head start. Farewell." With that, the Daemon turned and left; the Maids were quieter on the way out.

_Now, to get my stuff together._ Starbird glared at the barely-bubbling pot of pudding. _As soon as this__ is done..._

Author Note: There, more happened, this time. Better? Worse? I'd really like to know, so _Reviewez, S'il Vous Plait_. 

1) For locations in this story, I'm using the map of the subcontinent found at the website "Slayers Universe." The site is located at www.inverse.org, and the map is under Resources World Geography 2.

2) In the first version of the story's route, I had placed Zangulus' and martina's wedding in Atlas city, partially because it's the closest city to Sairaag on the map, and partially because I didn't know where Xoana was. However, after a significant amount of work (i.e., watching the entire first episode of TRY _one frame at a time_, aren't DVD players wonderful things, and squinting at the maps while it was paused), I was able to locate Xoana in the southeast part of the Alliance of Coastal States. As this is rather more convenient for the route I had in mind, I am now officially stating that, for the purposes of this story, the wedding took place in Xoana (in a different city than the capitol, which Lina destroyed). 

3) Starbird's Manor is, for anyone who wants to know, on a piece of land just on the Elmekian side of the mutual border point between Elmekia, Saillune, and Zeiphielia. Starbird got there faster than his target (Lina, if you haven't figured it out) got to near Kalmaart through a combination of two factors: he traveled straight home, while Lina headed off following the coast, and he traveled faster, flying most of the way (Or, alternately, he used a warp well he had set up; I don't know which).

4) Wouldn't "Lyzeillian Attack Maids" be a great name for a Rock Band (or at least an Anime)? Yes, I am a Dave Barry Fan, so sue me (but read the disclaimer first).

Next Chapter: Lina at Last!


	3. Chapter 2: In Which We Meet Lady Explosi...

Disclaimer: I'd like to say I own Slayers, but that would be lying, and my mommy tells me never to lie. Seriously, though, I don't own Slayers; whoever owns the Japanese rights sold them to a couple of different English companies, which pisses me off, because the different companies translate everything differently. But _c'est la vie_. (To everyone who just said "Lah Vee," that's not what I meant and you all know it; plus, that's a criminally bad joke). Let's get on with the story before I lose the _rest_ of my mind… Oh, yeah: Don't Sue Me. Pretty-Please-with-your-Confection-of-Choice-on-Top.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 2: In the City of Kale, in Southwest Kalmaart. A Week Later.

Lina Inverse walked into the Kale Inn, and, not seeing anyone who looked like an innkeeper (that is, no one was behind the counter), slammed her palms on what passed for the main desk and yelled, "Hey, can I get some service, here?!"

There was a crash, which she heard through the doorway behind the counter; it was the sort of crash made when a precariously balanced ladder falls over and breaks. About thirty seconds worth of thumps later, two hands gripped the counter from below and behind, and pulled up behind them a body that would look like it belonged to an innkeeper even if it weren't behind the counter: A slightly portly, balding man with a moustache, looking surprisingly good natured, given what had to have just happened to him.

"Excuse me," he said, dusting off his off-white tunic and brown vest, "I was just putting some laundry away... how may I help you?"  
"I'd like a room for the night..." Lina smiled nervously, half blushing (A sign of the unconscious priming of her cute-helpless-innocent-little-girl act). _I hope he doesn't jack up the price because of that..._

"That will be three silver pieces, or you can pay seven and get dinner and breakfast included." He looked slightly flustered, but if the price was that low, he obviously wasn't raising it on her account.

"I'll take the meals." She placed the coins on the counter. "Sorry about the…"

"Oh, it's no problem. If I didn't have to do that again, my wife would have something else for me to do." He walked back towards the rear doorway.

"Oh." Lina turned and went into the inn's dining room. She picked up a menu from the waiter, and read it while she waited for his return. She saw the innkeeper walk into the room carrying a large bag with vegetables sticking out the top, presumably for the kitchen. _He wasn't kidding, she thought; then, the waiter returned, and all other thoughts were swept out of her mind. "I'll have one of every appetizer and two house specials to start… and to drink, a large... Hey, what's that?" she pointed to one of the items on the beverage menu._

"Root Beer, miss. It's a regional specialty."  
"I'll have one of those."

"Very well." The waiter was apparently very professional; he didn't even blink as he walked away from the table of the young girl who had just ordered enough food for a party of four. He turned and walked back into the kitchen, and returned about ten minutes later with her three trays full of food. _The best thing about traveling alone for a while is a break from the constant dinner battles. Of course, she reflected, __I wouldn't want it to be permanent. It would get too boring. With that thought out of the way, she set to eating with her usual... enthusiasm. Twenty minutes and two helpings later, she was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder, which turned out to be the innkeeper's. "Humh?" she said, her mouth half full._

"Is your name Lina Inverse, by any chance?"

"Yuwh." She swallowed. "Yeah, that's me. Why?"

"I would have got to you sooner, but my wife had me darning sheets... and I didn't make the connection until I overheard your order. I have a message to deliver to someone by the name of Lina Inverse who matches your description." He placed a folded, sealed piece of paper on the table.

"Really... what, exactly, is this description I fit?" Her hands clenched into fists, knowing what was coming next. _Why do I even bother?_

"'An extra-petite, athletic girl in her mid-teens, with long, flame-red hair, garnet eyes, fair skin, and very youthful features, who takes exceptionally large meals whenever possible.' Why?"

Lina turned, Growling, then blinked. "Oh. Um, why didn't you notice who I was sooner?"

"I couldn't tell if you were a gOUCH!" He meant to say, 'I couldn't tell if you were a girl or a boy,' but it's hard to finish a sentence when you're getting whacked on the head by an irate sorceress.

_I _knew_ it would come to that. It always does. "Please leave me alone while I read this."_

"Of course." He walked away, rubbing his head. Lina picked up the paper and examined the seal on the letter. It was in the form of a seven-pointed star with a stylized wing design in the center. It had a magical seal, but Lina broke it with little effort. She unfolded the sheet, and read:

To the Sorcery Genius Lina Inverse:

Having heard of your near-legendary magical prowess, I have been seeking you for some time, but this is the first time I've had a chance to contact you. I have information that may be of interest to you, and a request for help in a situation that falls firmly into your area of expertise. If you desire more information on what I have to offer, meet me outside the north gate of town tomorrow at Noon.

The Handwriting, in green ink, was quite neat, with few flourishes, and instead of a signature, the violet seal was repeated at the bottom. Lina, sensing someone behind her, turned, and saw the innkeeper standing there again. 

"Why are you..."

"I forgot this, miss. The guy who gave me that letter also paid for your stay." He dropped seven silver coins on Lina's almost-empty plate.

"Um... What did this guy look like?"

"A bit taller than you, but not much; I couldn't see much else, since he was wearing a hooded cloak. It was purple, if that helps."

"Not really, but that's okay." _If he's going to all this trouble, what's the harm in just going to meet him? It's not every day I meet someone who's polite to me, either... When their lives aren't in danger, at least. She yawned. "I'm going to my room now."_

"Very well. It's upstairs, across from the staircase; room number seven."

In this case, 'Across from the staircase' meant the other end of the hall, putting her in the room on one end of the building. It was quite a fancy one, too. Not really ornate or anything, but well lit, by magical lights instead of torches or candles. It also featured a large, comfortable bed, an adjoining washroom, and nice furniture made of well-finished wood instead of the rough stuff found in some country inns. Lina discovered all these things as she made ready for bed, and she decided it was probably a room meant for the important travelers on whose account Kale had grown from a well-placed but wild trading post to a small but affluent walled city; and was therefore probably quite expensive. Then, she fell asleep.

A few hours later, Lina woke with a start. "What was ..." But all was still and quiet. _I could have sworn I heard... nah, that's impossible._ She lay back down. _I must have been dreaming. Yeah... just a bad dream... _

Author Note: And now we've met our Leading Lady. I pity that innkeeper...

1) Yes, I know Kale isn't on the map. I made it up. The people who made the Slayers Anime have no compunctions about doing this, and while I do, I'd rather make up a new town than put my story in one that was destroyed in the official sources. For anyone who _is looking at the map, Kale would be just west of Solaria._

2) As for that Crest: For anyone who is familiar with Magic Knight Rayearth (at least the Manga), it's basically the same as the crest of Windam, except instead of three plumes on each side of the W-shape, there are four, and there's an additional spade shape attached to the point of the center point of the W. For the seven pointed star, make seven points around a circle, one at the top. Connect them so the line hits the (Clockwise) first, third, fifth, seventh, second, fourth, sixth, and first points, in order, then flesh out the line, Star-of-David style, with the line from 6 to 1 goes under the line from 7 to 2, and the line from 1 to 3 goes over it, but under the line from 2 to 4. I realize most people don't care, but I know it bugs _me when __I can't figure out what a design is supposed to look like, so here you go._

3) My only reference for prices is that one silver piece is a relatively low price for a buffet. I extrapolated from there, given the fact that it's a relatively high quality inn.

In other News, My research has turned up a Precedent for the Daemons. Apparently, According to QP's Slayers Page (in English at ;), Quoting the _Encyclopedia Slayers_, Brow (or Brau, or Blow) Demons are not Mazoku but are rather more like a type of Goblin with magical powers – Thus, they would not be astral beings, but physical ones. Thus, If Brow Demons, which are official, are like that, I feel I'm justified in expanding on the Idea and creating other kinds. Yatta! Once again, the Great Eishirou is Victorious!

Next Chapter: A meeting with the Mystery Man, and What would wake Lina in the middle of the Night?


	4. Chapter 3: In Which There Are Two Meetin...

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers in any way, shape, or form, and I don't have anything funny to say about it. What I do own are: 

1) Starbird (and his whole clan, past, present, and future)

2) Dulak (and the idea of the Daemons, Greybat and otherwise)

3) The Town of Kale (But not the Dukedom of Kalmaart. Also, not Root Beer; also, not Pie for Breakfast (Try it. This has been a public service announcement.))

4) The Original spells included herein (But not the others, of course. I wish I did own Dragu Slave, But Oh Well That's Too Bad Now Isn't It.)

5) Your Immortal Soul (Just Kidding! _Phibrizzo owns that. Or his Ghost does. Or Whatever.)_

(Yeah, I lied about not having anything funny to say) I also do not own the incantation I use here for the Dragu Slave; it is slightly modified from the one used by Irony-Chan (FanFiction.Net Author Number 92540) and is used without permission, since Irony-Chan's Profile doesn't have an Email address listed, so I couldn't ask. I shall keep you updated on this matter, as I still haven't checked the given homepage for an Email link... Yeah. I'm sure most of you don't care, and, in all probability, neither does Irony, but one can never be too careful.

Whoo. Loooooong Disclaimer.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 3: Kale Inn, the Next Morning

Lina woke up refreshed, and, after making her morning toilette (i.e. getting ready), went down for breakfast, her scare from the previous night all but forgotten. She once again snagged a menu from the waiter, and ordered another interesting-looking regional specialty. Well, it's not really a regional specialty in and of itself, but in most places, people don't eat cold apple pie for breakfast. At any rate, once the three whole pies had been brought to the table (along with the recommended beverage, a honey-sweetened fruit tea), the continent's greatest eating machine set to work. After she finished, she sighed with pleasure and, seeing the innkeeper nearby, waved him over. "You know, these 'regional specialties' of yours are pretty good."

"Thank you, miss. If you'd like, I could..." He stopped, seeing the look on Lina's face go from contented to slightly queasy. "Are you okay, Miss?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine... just got a little chill down my spine." Lina shuddered. The innkeeper nodded politely and continued on his way.

_This is not good_, thought the fiery sorceress. _I only get that feeling from a few things, and of those..._ Loud, clunking steps could be heard, coming down the stairs. _It can't be! I've only been away from the others for a little over a week, and this, already? The steps entered the restaurant. Lina stared fixedly at the table. __Please let it just be Gaav back from the dead! Or another fragment of Shabranigdo, for that matter! The clunks were now approaching Lina's table, to which she continued to devote her undivided attention, in hopes the terror she sensed behind her would disappear. __Even the Lord of Nightmares again would be better than..._

"Lina, Darling! It's been _far too long!"_

_Damn._ "Hello, Naga. I'm not even going to dignify that second part with an answer." _No, wait- She'll think that was a joke..._

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Lina, you say the silliest things! Now, are you going to buy me breakfast, or do I have to pay myself?" The taller woman rounded the table and plopped herself down in the chair across from Lina, ignoring the nasty glares she was receiving from people whose drinks she had curdled with her fearsome sonic onslaught. 

Lina stood and turned away. "Actually, I have an appointment to keep." She glanced at the clock on the inn's wall; it said it was quarter past eleven o'clock. _Good, time to visit the shops first. She had, after all, been eating for quite a while, and, having lost track of time, was relieved to find that she still had enough left to offload some of the treasure she had collected on the way there. She continued out the door of the inn and down the street._

The waiter approached the somewhat annoyed Naga, before she could get up to follow. "May I take your order?"

Naga settled back down, thoughts of pursuit forgotten. This inn had good food, and she was sure it would taste even better charged to Lina's tab. She could always catch up with the walking fireball later.

"Thanks! Great doing business with you!" Lina fairly skipped out of the shop near the north gate, the newfound lightness of her cape (Where she stores her stuff - it must be enchanted) echoed in the bounce in her step. First, a tidy profit; now, off to meet someone who, through some cosmic accounting error, was actually _considerate_. However, no sooner had she reached the appointed area off to the side of the deserted north road than she heard a voice from above. "Greetings, Lina Inverse. I'm sorry I have to do this, but a challenge is no doubt the best way to test your strength." Lina turned around just in time to see the man in the purple cloak jump down from the wall.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Attack me, Lina Inverse. Hold nothing back."

"Okay. GAAV FLARE!" Lina held out her hands, but no ball of piercing flame was forthcoming. _Oh, right. Gaav's dead, so that spell..._

"I'll excuse your lapse in judgment; it's only been a month or so..."  
"Don't do me any favors, cloak boy. _East winds that blow have you at their source..._" She noticed he was casting a similar spell. _That's probably a freeze arrow,_ she thought. _But when I use _this_ incantation, my Flare Arrow's pretty strong. And there's no incantation this good for Freeze Arrow!_ "_... Into my hands ignite all their force!_ FLARE ARROW!"

"FREEZE ARROW!" The two spells collided, but, contrary to Lina's expectation, her spell was completely canceled.

"How'd you do that, cloak boy?"

"It's not that hard to modify incantations for similar spells. In this case, just use _'north_' instead of '_east_' and '_condense' instead of '__ignite.'"_

"Is that so? FIREBALL!" Her spell went out, but her opponent canceled it with a Freeze Brid. _Shades of Vrumugun... wait, Vrumugun was pretty good with ice spells, but not much else. Maybe I should try..._ VICE FREEZE!"

"BURST FLARE!" The two spells collided with the thunderclap and cloud of mist that they always produce. _Okay, so much for that theory. Lina cast Bomb Di Wind into the fog for the dual purposes of clearing the fog and blowing away her opponent. However, when the fog cleared, it revealed the stone barrier of a slightly dented Bephis Press, which he sent crashing toward her. She was so busy dodging the six foot high, twelve foot wide wall that she cancelled the Flare Lance he sent after it with an Icicle Lance only a foot from her outstretched hand. She then tried to distract him with a Vlave Howl, which should have turned the ground to lava. However, he cancelled that with..._

"Bogardic Elm? Where'd you learn that, cloak boy?" The spell, which few people knew, normally turned the ground to mud; its main use was against swordsmen and other opponents who depend on their physical abilities in a fight.

"It is a registered spell, Miss Lina. I know most mages don't bother with it, but I saw it could be used to counter Vlave Howl, so I learned it."  
"Interesting. Of course, you realize I've been buying time to gather power for this spell."  
"Of course. By all means, let it loose."

"You're gonna regret that! This spell is too new for a countering spell to have been developed!

'_Hot desert winds have you at their source,   
_Into___ my hands ignite all their force;   
_Source of all power, in thy great name,_   
_Fill the air with arrows of flame!_   
FLARE BARRAGE!'"_

The air was suddenly filled with fifty arrows of burning, reddish light, which sped toward the cloaked man- to be met a little over two thirds of the way there by an equal number of arrows of a cold, bluish persuasion.

"But... That's impossible! They told me Flare Barrage was only registered twenty days ago..."

"By someone who had developed it some six months previously, and whom I knew from before. I will admit, Miss Inverse, that my knowing Freeze Barrage was largely a matter of luck. However, you're holding back. I told you not to."

"You mean you want me to..."

"Yes. Away from the town, of course."

"A fully boosted... Why?"  
"I've heard how powerful you can make it; I want to see it with my own eyes."

"Alright, then. But if you die, what happens? Have you thought about that?" _He must be a certified loony..._

"The information you came about is real; it's in my bag at the top of the wall, up there. Don't worry, though. I'll be fine."

"If you're sure…" She began by casting the spell that activates her Demon's Blood Talismans. Then, she looked up. Her opponent had moved quite a ways away from the town and the road, in the direction of the forest. She turned to him, and began chanting:

"_Thou dark beyond the twilight skies,   
_The shade of crimson blood;_   
_Thy power hid from mortal eyes_  
_In time's onrushing flood_  
_I make my soul a gift to thee_  
_In darkness find rebirth,_   
_And in return grant thou to me_  
_The strength to rend the earth;_   
_These fools who would see my fall_  
_Are nothing, to be less,_   
_For thou and I shall crush them all_  
_By power we possess!_"_

Lina was dimly aware of her adversary chanting something about the sun and daylight the blue sky and saving the earth... _Must be a defensive spell._ Then she heard "Cleanse the land," and wasn't so sure. The ball of dark red fire in her hands was telling her to get it over with, though, so she finished.

"DRAGU SLAVE!"

The time for doubt was past, as the red beam of the most powerful Black Magic spell to draw solely on powers from within this world sped toward her doomed opponent, but... _He's not going to try to counter__ it, is he? But as she thought, the red beam was met by another ray of light, this one a scintillating sky blue. The Dragu Slave expanded into its trademark dome, but the blue light grew within it, and the spell - both spells - faded, before the dome grew bigger than forty feet across._

"What... the _hell_..." Lina simply collapsed to her knees; the shock of having her greatest weapon rendered useless was too much. The man with the cloak walked up to her.

"I am impressed, miss Inverse. You are even more talented than the stories said." He removed the hood, revealing a handsome face that appeared to be in the late teens, with eyes that looked to be both green and violet and center-parted black hair, cut to around five inches, with white locks in the front. "Cute, too." He extended his hand to her, and she took it with one of her own; the other was busy hiding the fact that she was blushing furiously (Hey, she doesn't get complimented very often, especially not about her looks). The man finished removing the cloak, revealing an outfit of dark green pants, a white, short-sleeved shirt, and black boots and belt. "My name is Starbird." He summoned his pack from the wall, and took out a violet-lined black cape and black-sheathed broadsword, which he fastened to his shoulders and belt, respectively. He then slung the bag over his shoulder. "I'm sorry I had to test you, but I wouldn't want you putting yourself at risk joining me if you weren't as powerful as you're said to be. As for why I'm here to talk to you..."

"You mentioned something about needing help with something in my area of expertise?"  
" Yes. In fact... wait. Someone's coming."

"Where?"

"By air; that way." He said, pointing toward the forest. He muttered what must have been a spell and made a flicking motion with his hand. There was a crash from the other side of a large, heavily foliated tree, as if someone who had been hovering behind it had suddenly lost power, fallen into the tree, and got caught in the branches, which was, in fact, exactly what had happened. However, the thick foliage concealed the identity of the spy...

"Lina, darling... I came when I saw the explosions; I figured I'd find you here. So, be a dear and help me out of this tree..."

... Who apparently had no interest whatsoever in preserving her anonymity (C'mon, who'd you expect? LoN? Luna? Xellos? Okay, maybe Xellos...)

"I assume you know this person. Is she trustworthy?" Starbird walked toward the tree, motioning for Lina to follow as he spoke.

"She's Naga the Serpent. She follows me around like goldfish feces, but I don't think there'll be a problem if she hears whatever you've got to say. Plus, she'll be following me anyway."

"Ah. What shall we do?" He motioned toward the branches of the tree that they had, by this point, reached; specifically, he pointed to Naga's cape, which could be seen where it hung if they stared straight up; no other part of the dark sorceress was visible.

"I could climb up and get her down," Lina offered.

"No, let me." The young man unsheathed his sword. He held it parallel to the scabbard and muttered a short incantation, then swung the sword in a quick, backhand, upward motion. A series of Vacuum blades struck up through the branches and foliage, cutting most of them off somewhat nearer the trunk than was the place where Naga hung. Naturally, there followed a small avalanche of limbs and branches, which both Lina and her new acquaintance managed to dodge, and Starbird caught the taller woman who fell through the rain of branches, somehow unharmed.

"Hello, Lady Naga," he said, standing her up and helping her dust off her cape, all the while somehow managing to avoid doing anything slap-worthy. "I was just explaining to Miss Lina why I called her out here. However, if it's going to be the three of us, we might as well discuss it over Root Beer and Sausages at the Inn."

Lina's and Naga's eyes alike sparkled at the very thought.

Author Note: Whoo. Loooooong Chapter.

1) RE Starbird's Sword: While it's called a broadsword, it's probably not the kind of broadsword you're thinking of. The definition of "Broadsword" used here is "Sword with a straight, single-edged blade and a basket hilt, with the blade not wider than two inches (the "Broad" being compared to a Rapier or Smallsword);"  In Starbird's case, the blade's about an inch and a quarter wide and the hilt is very simple. A good example of a broadsword of this type (with a hilt a lot like Starbird's) can be found in the video game "Secret of Mana," though I don't know where to find Illustrations except in the Player's Guide or the "Nintendo Power" Magazine coverage (Volume 62, Page 64, for anyone who'd have the magazine, though I'm sure the pictures are around somewhere online). The definition came from another site whose address I forget at the moment.

2) RE Magic: The stuff in italics for the spells is actually in chaos words, translated for convenience. The stuff in all caps is power words, which trigger the spell woven by the chaos words. Repeat: Lina is NOT casting spells in her head. She's saying them aloud in a different language.

3) RE 'Her Greatest Weapon': Yes, I know that the Giga Slave and Ragna Blade are stronger, but they're both absolute last resorts. The Dragu Slave is the _greatest weapon, because she can use it freely._

4) Note: For the record, I'm trying really hard to keep starbitd from becoming a male Mary Sue character, and I hope it's working; I've cut out several of the more blatant perfectioning, and only left what was necessary for the story. If he seems to be too perfect or too powerful, please tell me; some of it's for a reason, but not much.

Next Chapter: What do you get when you add Naga to Root Beer (Non-Alcoholic), Toss in Lina and an Original Character and some Sausages, and Sprinkle Liberally with Information about the Mazoku? Well, you'll have to wait and... What's that you said? 'A Quest?' Yeah, you're probably right. Buggers.

EXTRA

Or, Stuff You Wish Was On the DVDs

The Starbird Chronicles: Spellbook

This EXTRA is a listing of all the original spells I use in the Story. Any spell not listed here can be found at either Slayers Universe or QP's Slayers page (addresses in previous chapters), some with spelling variations (Slayers Universe lists Freeze Brid as a variant spelling for Freeze Bullet). Of course, small, boring, nameless spells (Like the one Starbird used on the branches or the one Lina used to open the letter last chapter) won't be covered, even though they are Original. The style of these entries is from the Slayers Universe magic resource. Without Further Ado:

Slayers Spells A to Z: The Starbird Chronicles, Chapter 3

Bephis Press (befisu puresu)

Also known as: Befis Press, Earth Spirit Wall

Category: Shamanism / Earth

By calling on the earth spirit Bephimos, a wall of earth or rock of variable size is created, erupting from the ground in front of the caster. This barrier is stronger than most magical barriers, but has the disadvantages of blocking attacks in both directions and obstructing the vision of the caster. Also, the wall can be magically pushed forward, allowing an offensive use of the spell. The greatest disadvantage is that the spell effect travels along the ground, allowing flying and quick-moving enemies to dodge it.

Flare Barrage (furea barajji)

Also known as: Flare Phalanx, Hyper Flare Arrow

Category: Shamanism / Fire

One spell in a group composed of enhanced-beyond-recognition versions of weak spells, Flare Barrage is based on Flare Arrow. The form of the spell is essentially unchanged, but both the number of arrows and the power of each arrow are increased. The weakest variant of the spell creates about twenty arrows, each as powerful as Flare Lance; the strongest known, cast by a powerful Fire-Priest, created one hundred arrows, each as powerful as Vice Flare.

"The Hot Desert Winds have you at their Source; into my Hands Ignite all their Force; Source of all Power, In Thy Great Name, Fill the Air with Arrows of Flame! FLARE BARRAGE!!"

Freeze Barrage (furiizu barajji)

Category: Shamanism / Water

Also known as: Icicle Barrage, Arrow Blizzard

The Ice counterpart of Flare Barrage, Freeze barrage has the interesting side effect of lowering the ambient temperature (unless it's already well below freezing), often creating a diamond dust effect. Useful for long-term food preservation, as it's unlikely to thaw for a few years. While it doesn't cause things to catch on fire, it may give even bystanders mild cases of frostbite; the target is unfailingly frozen alive.

"Cold Arctic winds have you at their source, Into my hands condense all their force; By the magical force of the Chilling Breeze, Strike with Arrows of Ice that Freeze! FREEZE BARRAGE!!"

As for that spell that Starbird used to cancel the Dragu Slave, What it is exactly is a secret. However, I will tell you the incantation.

"_Thou Brighter than the Day's Blue Sky  
Lit by the Shining Sun,   
Thy Power's Shards in Darkness Lie;   
They Sleep, Though Not Undone  
I Make my Soul a Pledge to Thee,   
Its Power Give Thee Birth,   
And For Thy Answer, Grant to Me  
The Strength to Save the Earth  
These Foul Fiends Who Before Us Stand  
Are Nothing, to Be Less,   
For Thou and I Shall Cleanse the Land  
By Power We Possess!"_

Speculation as to what the spell is (name or nature) is highly encouraged, as are storyline suggestions and guesses and any other feedback.

Yes, this is my lame attempt to get reviews, since almost no one seems to want to... -__-;; I'm not quite ready to go on a review strike, as I suspect people don't like me or my story enough to put in the effort... I'd really appreciate being told I'm wrong.

Until Next time...


	5. Chapter 4: In Which Questions are Askes ...

Disclaimer:

Sings (To the tune of Paul Simon's "I Know What I Know"):  
I Own what I Own,  
I'll Sing what I Said;  
Don't Bitch and Don't Moan,  
Or a Mallet will be  
Introduced to Your Head!  
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!  
  


Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 4: Back at the Kale Inn

The three travelers sat at the inn's table, Lina eating massive quantities of sausage, Naga drinking massive amounts of Root Beer in a dedicated (but misguided) effort to get drunk (Lina hadn't thought to tell her it was non-alcoholic, and Starbird wanted her sober), and Starbird doing a remarkable job of keeping Lina's fork off his plate and Naga's hands off his glass.

"So anyway," Lina said, her mouth half full, "you said something about a 'situation of interest' in my 'area of expertise'?"

"Yes," replied the mysterious man, brows furrowed in concern. "It Involves the Mazoku. You know, of course, that there are five 'High-Rank' Mazoku on our world, who serve Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo, the Dark Lord of our world, directly – Or rather, there were, before you destroyed Chaos Dragon Gaav and Hellmaster Phibrizzo."

"You did _what_?!" Naga nearly spat a mouthful of sausage across the table, though she fortunately avoided it.

"Well, I had help," Lina replied, with uncharacteristic modesty, "and Phibrizzo finished Gaav off. I just wounded him."

"What _else_ have you been doing these last two years?" The dark-haired woman looked accusingly at her petite, redheaded former traveling partner.

"Let's see... I found a shard of the Sorceror's Stone, defeated a fragment of Shabranigdo and the resurrected Zanaffar, found the True Claire Bible, got possessed by the Lord of Nightmares - That's how Phibrizzo got killed..."

"That's _it_! I'm never leaving you again! You go and get into all these great Adventures, with ludicrous opportunities to get treasure, with _no thought whatsoever to your closest companion and greatest rival!"_

"You're not my greatest rival, and you're certainly not my closest companion! You're just a useless..."

"Girls, girls... calm down, please. You can finish catching up later - Though if it's going to go like this, I don't recommend it. Now, as I was saying before that side trip to Recap City, There were Five High-Rank Mazoku before Lina destroyed two of them. The remaining three are Greater Beast Zelas-Metallium, also known as the Beastmaster; Deep Sea Dolphin, Lord of the Oceans and Seas, and Dynast Grauscherra, Dark Lord of Ice and Storms. That last is the one we're concerned with, for two reasons. First, of the five, Phibrizzo was the strongest; Gaav was second, at least before he got sealed in a human body. Therefore, there is now a huge power vacuum, and the other three are moving to get what power and influence they can before a replacement appears. Dynast Grauscherra is the one who is having the most success, having already gotten a lot of what Gaav lost a thousand years ago, so he is now the most powerful of the three remaining lords. The second reason is more complicated. While it is widely known, whether true or not, that Dolphin is, well, completely bonkers, it's almost totally unknown that Dynast Grauscherra has a severe split personality. The one who is normally in control refers to himself as 'The Dynast,' or just 'Dynast' as a name, and is cold and calculating; he is the 'Dark Lord with the Frozen Soul.' However, there's another personality under the surface. It calls itself Grauscherra, and is the embodiment of the more... _violent_ tendencies associated with the nature of the Storm. Recently, Grauscherra has been becoming more and more dominant; since he started absorbing Phibrizzo's ant the remainder of Gaav's power, it's gotten much worse. The Sea of the North is now perpetually stormy; it's gotten so bad that the scouts I use to keep tabs on the North report that it's now unsafe to cross without serious magic protection." Starbird paused for breath, but Lina interrupted him.

"So you want to take him out, and you need my help."

"Er... Depends on what you mean by 'take him out.' I don't want to totally destroy him; I'm rather attached to Dynast Brass and Dynast Breath, so that would be bad. I mean, Imagine if you defeated the final piece of Ruby Eye - How would you feel if you couldn't cast the Dragu Slave? What I do want to do is take a big chunk out of his power and revert him to the Dynast we know better and loathe less. On the other hand, it might be a good thing that I want to preserve him, as, by all indications, he's now even more powerful than Gaav, and possibly even more than Phibrizzo."

"Ooh. I can see why you wanted to test my strength; those two were nasty enough."

"Right." He bowed his head. "Of course, knowing that..."

"You must be out of your mind," Lina interjected, causing Starbird to hang his head. 

"At least, that's what I'd like to say. But there's no way I'm letting any demon get away with terrorizing an entire sea."

"Really?" He looked up, and saw the fire in Lina's eyes.

"Really. Well, that and the fact that there's a whole new land to be pillaged-I mean, explored. And I'm always looking for ways to test my strength. When do we leave?"

"Er, I was thinking tomorrow morning, if you don't mind."

"Great! Now, let's get some more food to celebrate the deal! Oi, Waiter!" She heard a chuckle from Starbird, and turned to him. "What?"

"Nothing. You really are as crazy as the rumors say, Lina Inverse... and I mean that in the best possible way." The young man turned to Naga as Lina turned to the arrived waiter to order.

Naga seemed, against all reason, to have succeeded in getting drunk on root beer (Her face was flushed, her eyes hooded; those are the usual signs), and wobbled a bit as Starbird spoke to her.

"No one will think badly of you if you choose not to come. I know that's clichéd, but I'd recommend you seriously consider staying back." He moved his arm as the waiter delivered another platter of food to the table.

"Didn't you hear me, silly man? I said I'm never leaving Lina again, and I meant it." She leaned over and stared at him with half-closed eyes. "Got it?"

"Well, if you're sure..." he stopped speaking as Naga fell face first into the plate of sausages, snoring. "Umm... I think I'll take lady Naga to her room..."

"Go 'Heh, Aw' bee Fahm..."

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full, Miss Lina. It detracts from your charm." With that, he hoisted the pseudo-drunk sorceress onto his back, piggyback style, and disappeared out the door. Lina heard the clunk of his steps on the stairs, but they faded quickly. He returned, much more quietly, a few minutes later; he looked rather relieved as he sat down across from his prospective companion, who had finished her meal in the interval.

"If she's going to be coming with us, I need to ask you a few questions about her," he said, looking a little discomfited at the situation. "First, how is she as a magician? Honestly, I mean; I don't buy 'useless,' and I need some details." He seemed a little anxious as he listened to Lina's reply.

"Hmm. I've never really thought about it, actually. She likes coming up with experimental spells and variants; She's actually the one who created Bogardic Elm." Lina glanced at him to see his reaction.

"Really?" He brightened significantly. "Impressive... maybe we'll be all right after all."

"No, Bogardic Elm's the only one that really works. The rest of them - Mega Vraimer, Freeze Rain, Guy La Douger and Gu Lu Douger - they all go off, but she can't control them. I guess that pretty much sums it up: she's got a decent amount of power, but very little, or at least insufficient, control. She says her specialty is summoning magic, but those are the spells that usually go wrong; the thing she's actually best at is Ice-based Water Shamanism, like Freeze Arrow and Icicle Lance."

"Uh-huh. I suppose I can teach her enough to build on her strengths."

"She also has no tactical sense at all when it comes to fighting. She actually uses Zelas Gort and Kyu Kyum Spin in serious combat, like she expects them to do damage."

"Ugh. Have you ever seen her use that Longsword she carries?" By this point, he was doodling on the table with his finger in a combination of annoyance and despair.

"Not really, no. Not that I blame her; I mean, she generally faints at the sight of blood."

"Oh, fun. Well, at least there're some spells I can try to teach her."

"Also, she's got a major Ego problem."

"Oh, joy." He looked up, trying to appear at ease (but not quite succeeding). "Anyway, you've answered all my other questions. Do you have any for me?"

"You bet I do. You seem to be concerned with our skills, but what about you? What skills do you bring to the party?"

"I like to think I'm pretty good with magic; I'd say you and I are about equally talented. I don't really specialize in any one type of magic, but I've never had a real problem casting a spell once I'd learned it." The sorcerer wore a lopsided grin that suggested that he knew they both understood he was leaving some things unsaid. "As far as swords go, I think I'm competent, but without my magic, I wouldn't stand a chance against any skilled swordsman." Lina nodded at the explanation.

"I see. Second, why do you need my help, and my help alone?"

"I need your help because Grauscherra is extremely powerful and it will most likely require magic from Shabranigdo or the Lord of Nightmares to hurt him. Most of your friends would be dead weight, since they can't use that kind of Magic; worse, since we'd have to protect them. Also, I'd really prefer Xellos didn't know about this mission, since, powerful though he may be, he's as likely to interfere as to help. I'd really rather Naga wasn't coming, either, but the way you talk about her, it sounds like it's no use trying to shake her off."

"Yeah, even a Dragu Slave won't keep Naga away."

"Uh... Seriously?"

"I kid you not. Gods know I've tried."

"Yeesh. That sounds nasty."

"Yeah, I guess. Third, about your plans. What are we going to do now, and where are we going next?"  
"Well, we have that room in the inn for as long as we need it, which is just until tomorrow; you and Naga will sleep there, if you don't object. I'll be nearby. Tomorrow, we depart for the north coast, where one of my men is searching for a ship that will take us across the sea to the Northern Lands. It shouldn't take more than a week, and then we're on the way. Does that sound okay to you?"

"Sure, I guess."

"In that case, let's go see if we can't get Naga up. We've got some shopping to do before tomorrow!"

Author's Note: It seems it's been two months since I updated; sorry it took so long. I have a few chapters written in advance, and now that school's out, I should have more time for typing them. However, I've hit a slow spot in the writing, and I don't want to burn up my entire buffer, so I'm not going to be posting them all at once.

Here's a Shout Out to Mossygirl, who emailed me about the story's progress and gave me a little motivation to crank this out: Thanks for Caring about the story.

And here's a Shout Out to everyone else: Barely anyone's reviewing this story, and that doesn't give me motivation. Please, Review. I like reviews! If it helps motivate people, I try to return reviews in kind! Please, don't make me beg!

1) The Sorceror's Stone: While it's one of the few things in the Harry Potter books that really rub me the wrong way (another is making the Basilisk a giant snake when it's supposed to be a dog-sized, eight-legged lizard... but I digress), I got some good use out of this: In this writing, the mystical stone that amplifies Magic Power is the Sorceror's Stone. The Philosopher's Stone would be a separate thing that transmutes base metals into gold and produces the Elixir of Life (Though it too, if it exists in the Slayers World, is probably made of part of the Staff of the Gods).

2) Naga: I don't know if Naga ever used her sword in any of the media in which she was featured, nor do I know if Lina ever Dragu-Slaved her. I'm assuming she never used the sword memorably and that if Lina never Dragu-Slaved her onscreen, as it were, it happened sometime between episodes/chapters. I do know Naga can take a lot of abuse, though, as does anyone else who's read the Slayers: Special manga.

3) Update: I've now watched Slayers: Try, and in the first episode, there's a map of the entire hemisphere in which the Slayers Stories take place. Among other things, this map reveals the location of Xoana. With this knowledge, a few revisions will be made to earlier chapters reflecting a change in the story's route. I also figured out what Starbird's sword really is. Look for these changes when Chapter Five is posted.

Next Chapter: A Romantic Interlude? Not exactly, but an Interlude Nonetheless.   
                                                           OR  
I Really Don't Need Gourry/Lina Fans Attacking Me I Know They're Meant To Be Together And Starbird Has Terrible Luck With Relationships Anyway So I'm Not Even Going There!

EXTRA

Or, Stuff You Wish Was On the DVDs

The Starbird Chronicles: Meanwhile...

This EXTRA is a one-shot (unless I forget someone) which gives a brief account of what the other Slayers are up to during the Story.

-Zelgadis Greywords: Mere days after leaving Martina's wedding, Zelgadis caught word of a Secret Laboratory  set up by Rezo in Southern Elmekia; This led him to abandon the group and go there in hope of finding a Cure for his Condition.

-Amelia wil Tesla Saillune: Amelia followed Zelgadis to the Secret Lab, much to his (outward) chagrin; after they finished there (the mission obviously unsuccessful, as Zel's still a Chimera in Try), Zelgadis escorted her back to Saillune City, then went off on his own for a while.   

-Sylphiel nels Rada: After traveling with the group for a while, Sylphiel decided to return to the Greater Sairaag area in response to a message that a healer was needed among the citizens who had relocated after the first destruction of the city by Copy Rezo and Zanaffar.

-Gourry Gabriev: Believing Sylphiel needed protection more than Lina, and with Lina's (Grudging) permission, Gourry decided to accompany Sylphiel to Sairaag. Once there, he stayed and waited for Lina as per agreement (and to Lina's amazement when she found he'd remembered to stay put).

-Martina mel Navratilova Xoana: Now the Reigning Queen of Xoana, Martina's first act was to have the Kingdom's Sages and Sorcerors place a gated magical barrier around the Kingdom to prevent unwanted interference with the reconstruction (Actually, that's just the first serious act, or at least the first one anyone took seriously. The first several involved Dress Codes and Worshipping Zoamelgustar).

-Zangulus al Rey Xoana (Name he took after marriage; Zangulus, his family Name, was the only one he had before): Adjusting to being King of Xoana and Martina's Husband (one might wonder which of the two was harder), Zangulus mostly let Martina take control, since resistance would be useless anyway. He takes advantage of the Royal Prerogative to take hunting trips as often as possible, not because he enjoys Hunting, but to get out of the castle.*

-Moros al Krile Xoana (Making up middle names is fun!): Retired to a quiet village without telling Martina where he'd be, in hopes she wouldn't try to contact him. That way, he could finally escape from her constant complaining ("DADDY! How dare you leave the kingdom to me in this pathetic shape!").

-Elias Vrumugun (First names too, though this one is actually based on Elishel/Erisiel, the real name of the real Vrumugun in the Novels, who also just happens to be Eris): He also settled down in Xoana, Helped on the Barrier, and Helps Zangulus get out occasionally. He spends the rest of his time tracking down his remaining copies and deactivating them.

-Xellos (He only uses Metallium when he needs a last name): He reports back to Zelas-Metallium about the whole Hellmaster fiasco, after which he splits his time between Wolfpack Island and the Demon King of the North, with whom he's on friendly terms (That's who he got the Demon's Blood Talismans from, after all). He also pops in to annoy Zelgadis at least once.

-Philionel el Di Saillune: Prince Phil spends the whole interval working on policy changes due to the disappearance of the Mazoku's Barrier (The physical part, anyway; the God-Sealing Field was actually just weakened). This eventually leads to him calling a congress of Nations, which takes place during the first episode of Try. He is also very relieved when Amelia returns home from her traveling.

*Until the Capital of Xoana is rebuilt, they're ruling from what amounts to the summer palace, which is kinda in a forest in the middle of nowhere.


	6. Chapter 5: In Which Lina Cannot Sleep

Disclaimer: [Insert If-you-think-I-own-Slayers-I'll-sell-you-Brooklyn-Bridge Joke Here.]. Hey, it was only a matter of time; I think everyone who writes humorous disclaimers does this one eventually. P.S. I don't even live in New York.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 5: That Night, At the Inn

In spite of the late hour, Lina lay awake in her bed. This actually had little to do with Naga's snoring and more to do with having a few too many things on her mind. Her eyes wandered around the dark room, from the bookshelves, to the mirror, to the couch where Naga lay sleeping in the navy blue pajamas Starbird had insisted on buying earlier that afternoon, along with a whole bunch of other supplies, most of which now stuffed in the closet. _I swear, it's not normal for a guy to like shopping that much..._

Lina sighed and slid out from under the covers; she obviously wasn't going to get any sleep at this rate. She walked over to the window and threw it open, letting the night air in. The cool breeze was a relief from the warm and slightly stuffy air in the room, so she decided to go where she could enjoy it better. She grabbed her cloak and put it on over her own pajamas, which, except for being dark red in color, were indistinguishable from her old ones (Starbird had insisted on buying them anyway), then cast a quick Levitation spell to get her up to the Inn's roof.

The roof of the Kale inn was mostly flat, except for the sharp drop at the edges and a small, square structure in the middle which was apparently intended to let light and air into the building's attic. She'd thought this would be an ideal place to relax and get some fresh air; someone else had, apparently, had the same idea. A human form was visible as a silhouette against the moonlight, sitting against the central structure. She approached anyway, and was halfway across before the figure turned its head to look at her her, white forelocks catching the moonlight.

"Hello, Miss Lina," Starbird said. "What are you doing up so late?"

"The room's stuffy and Naga snores. Is this seat taken?" He shook his head absently, so she moved to sit just around the corner from him. He was close enough to the corner that their shoulders almost touched. "How 'bout you?" She continued. "What're you doing? Standing guard?"

"No, I put a guardian spell on the Inn; that's a large bit of how I paid for your stay."

"What _are_ you doing, then?"

"Just looking at the sky. Aren't the stars beautiful? And the moon is so bright..."

"Mmm." Lina had never been big on stargazing, but on crystal clear, moonlit nights like this, she could almost see the appeal. They sat in silence for a few moments before Starbird spoke again.

"There's something on your mind. What is it?"

"It's you, actually. It feels like you know too much about me, and I know next-to-nothing about you. You're a total mystery, and, frankly, I'm a little uncomfortable working with someone that mysterious."

"What about Xellos? What about Zelgadis, for that matter?"

"I don't work closely with Xellos, he just keeps turning up. As for Zelgadis, even he wasn't as much of a mystery as you are; He told me about his curse, and about being related to Rezo. By the way, you knowing about Zelgadis and Xellos... that's what I mean when I say you know too much."

"Hmm. Well, I suppose I can tell you a bit about myself, if you'd like."

"Well, you don't have to..."

"No, it's important we trust each other. I've been trying to find you for a while, but I was always a step or two behind until I caught up with you at Princess Martina's wedding, and I only ended up there because your name was on the guest list, and it took a few days to prepare for the ceremony. Since I kept meeting people within a few days after you left, I managed to learn a lot about you, and I did some extra research whenever I hit a slow spot. That's why I know so much about you.

"As for me... Where should I start? The Starbird clan hails from outside the Mazoku's Barrier, but there was a sizeable group of my family members on an ambassadorial visit to Elmekia when the barrier went up. Naturally, they were trapped inside. Most of them settled in Elmekia, but some of them fanned out across the subcontinent.  However, between those who had no children, and those who only had girls, I'm relatively sure I'm the only one left to bear the actual name Starbird. That's why it's the only name I use." He paused for a moment, swallowing what may have been a lump in his throat.

"What about your parents?" Lina turned, Intrigued by this development.

"They left home when I was five, and never came back. I don't think they intended to, frankly; they're probably not even on this world anymore, whether they're dead or just traveling on a different plane. My dad had some spirit blood, so that's entirely possible. Anyway, I haven't seen either of them since. My functional family is just the retainers who raised me."

"Retainers?"

"There are a few human servants pledged to the clan, along with a few Daemon servants. In fact, it's one of them that's looking for a boat to get us across the Northern Sea. Anyway, they raised me until I was old enough to take control of my parents' estate near Zeiphielia and Saillune."

"When was that?"

"Two years ago. On my fifteenth birthday."

"So you're seventeen?"

"And a half. It sometimes feels like I'm a lot older, though."

"I know what you mean. I sometimes feel like I've seen more in my life than anyone should have to." There was a pause that started short, but stretched on for a minute or more. A breath of chill wind blew in from the north, causing Lina to pull her cloak more tightly around herself, and Starbird to shiver slightly. The young sorcerer pulled a thermoslike bottle out from under his robe, took the cap off and filled it, then held it out to his red-headed roofmate. She looked at it, a little quizzically.

"It's an herbal tea. It's a little bit bitter, but it warms one nicely."

"Oh" Lina took the cup and sniffed it, then took a small sip, which she rolled around on her tongue before swallowing. Indeed, the warmth spread quickly from her stomach through the rest of her body, and she found it tasted pleasantly of raspberry and lemon. "It's not bitter at all."

"I don't really think so either," the young man smiled, a little sadly, "But I've little taste for sweet things, and I'm told I'm overly acclimated to bitterness..." he poured himself a cup, and they sipped in silence for a few minutes before Lina spoke again.

"Just one more question: You weren't very informative before. How powerful are you? I mean _really_."

"I don't know."

Lina looked at him in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean? How can you not know?"

"I've never been tested to within hailing distance of my power's limits. Ergo, I do not know what those limits are. I assure you, I don't like it any more than you do." There was a tiny bit of a sharp tone in the mystery man's voice, apparently calculated to get Lina off the subject. It worked, and they went back to sipping in silence, Starbird now with a slight scowl on his face. After a few minutes it softened, and he turned to speak to the red-haired girl again, but he found that she had fallen asleep. _Just as well, he thought, __fewer questions to try to answer this way. He picked up her sleeping body and flew over the roof and into the room. He tucked her into bed, cast a cooling Diem Breath into the room, and disappeared back out the window._

Author's Note: There. Not romantic, just an interlude.

...

...

Okay, maybe it was a _little_ bit romantic. So sue me. It's not like you'll get anything.

1) It's possible that Lina would be more accepting of a mysterious companion than she is shown as here, but If she didn't want to know, then I wouldn't have plot justification to tell you. 

2) The place Starbird's clan comes from originally is related to the Subcontinent in which the first two seasons of Slayers takes place in roughly the same way that Japan is related to Europe. Starbird's family tried to keep some of the heritage of their homeland alive; thus, the names they use are translated more or less directly from their original Japanese, which the family's children also know. Thus, "Hoshitori" became Starbird; and Starbird's "first" name (he _has one, he just doesn't _use_ it), "Koushirou" (Literally Light-Child-Man or Light-Boy; the same as "Izzy" Izumi from Digimon. I liked the name.), is more loosely translated as "Light." Also, as in Japanese, family name comes first (which is why the "first" above is in quotation marks), so it would be "Starbird Light" rather than "Light Starbird."_

3) I don't know what the age(s) of Majority is/are in the Slayers Culture(s); Lina left home at Twelve or so because her Sister (Luna) told her to see the world (probable actual phrasing: "Get the hell out of this house and don't come back!"), but I don't know how typical that is. I'm assuming it's the parents' decision, and Starbird's parents told the Servants to give him control when he was fifteen. Also, my sources (Websites I've mentioned before; I believe it was QP's in this case) suggest that Lina was Seventeen by the end of Next; Starbird's older than her, but only by a matter of months (six or less, specifically). 

Next Chapter: On the Road Again (For the First Time); with all the trouble that it entails.


	7. Chapter 6: In Which the Tough get Going,...

Disclaimer: What is the sound of one Fanfic Author not owning the Slayers?

I don't know, but if you come here often, you must hear it a lot. Like now, for instance.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 6: The Next Day, on the Road North from Kale

It was the fourth bandit ambush that day. Starbird Sighed. They had left town early that morning, but in spite of the early hour, the first attack had occurred only a mile outside town gates. It had, fortunately, provided an opportunity for Starbird to get an idea of Naga's basic aptitude for spell control; he had convinced her to use Freeze Rain rather than Freeze Arrow, though she had claimed it was a waste of a good spell. After dispatching the orb with a Flare Lance and undoing the (extensive) excess damage, Starbird had walked with Naga for a while, giving her some pointers on the fine control of spell effects. 

After the experience of being frozen solid, however briefly, Lina strongly resisted allowing Naga to handle the next bunch as well, but she eventually allowed it. Naga, using some of the pointers Starbird had given her, actually managed to make the spell hit only the bandits. It still required an outside force (this time, Lina's Heat Fang) to stop it, but, hey, no one's perfect.

The third encounter had, at the very least, helped alleviate some of the leftover tension between Starbird and Lina. A group of bandits of above-ordinary skill had attacked them shortly after lunch, and managed to pin both Starbird and Lina down. While the rest of the bandits ran off following Naga, Lina and Starbird struggled until Lina used a Bram Fang (which requires no physical motion) to distract the pair of bandits holding Starbird, who in turn blinded all four foes with an incredibly bright flash of Lighting. They staggered around rubbing their eyes for long enough for their would-be victims to get out of the way, and for Lina to Mega Brand them all into the Stratosphere. They felt a lot better towards each other after the experience; after all, it's a proven fact that two people saving each other will promote bonding. It is upon this principle that a lot of team-building activities are based.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that in the process of regrouping from that third attack, Lina and Starbird had found Naga with the other three bandits, who were completely incased in Ice. This earned Naga some rare praise from Lina: "Wow, Naga. You're making some real progress." Naga, of course, replied with her usual laugh, and probably a comment about Lina being a "pathetic lackey," though Lina wasn't too sure, since she was covering her ears at the time.

And now, another band of robbers. Starbird sighed again, and shook his head.

"What you sighing at, Pretty Boy?" The apparent leader of the bandits, a large, tanned man with a bushy red beard and a ridiculous floppy blue hat spoke in a gruff voice.

"You're the fourth bunch today. I'm getting sick of it."

"Yeah? Well none of the others were as tough as we are!"

"I'm sure. Um, who are you again?" He had a vague memory of the hairy-faced bandit speaking- well, talking, anyway- during his reminiscence.

"Weren't you listening? We're Keller's Hammer!" the big man posed to make the black hammer design on the back of his vest more visible. "The Elite Warriors of the Great Wizard Keller!"

"Okay, one, no, I wasn't listening, and two, how great can this Keller be if he doesn't have a color?"

"And I suppose you do, Pretty Boy?"

"Oh, I don't, but if you'll direct your attention behind me," he stepped aside to reveal Lina deep in concentration, hands together, chanting and glowing with a faint red aura, "I'll introduce you to my traveling companion, Lina the Pink!"

"Lina the Pink? Lina," he sized the girl up physically, "as in Lina Inverse? Lina the Bandit Killer?"

"Yup."

"RUN AWAY!" The bandits began to follow their leader's orders, but the ground beneath them was already glowing. None of them made it more than a step or two before the fiery sorceress in question finished her spell.

"DIGU BRAND!" the ground within the glowing circle erupted in a fiery blast of rising earth, first scorching the band and then blasting them sky high. Naga, whom Lina had told to let her handle this bunch, watched them go, before turning an anticipatory gaze and evil smile on Starbird and Lina. _This should be good..._

"It's almost a pity we had to blow them up. They actually had a decent name," Starbird said. Lina replied with a Bomb Sprid to his head.

"No one," she continued, pulling him into a headlock, "and I mean _no one_, mentions that title around me. Ever. On pain of Death. Got it?"

"Got it," he croaked, coughing ash and trying to breathe.

"Good." She let him go with a soft smack to the head.

"Hey," he continued, wiping his face on his cape and trying to straighten his frazzled hair, "What was that spell you used on them? Earth- and Fire-Shamanism, right? A variant of Dill Brand?"

"Yeah," Lina replied, setting off again, "I picked it up in the Sorceror's Guild in Ralteague, where I learned Flare Barrage, and I'd been meaning to try it out."

"I've never seen anything quite like it before." Starbird got his hair in order, and started to follow.

"Really? I'm surprised."

"_Lina_! How unfair is that!" The other two turned around to see Naga starting after them, wearing a hurt face.

"What's unfair, now?" Asked Lina, puzzled.

"If I'd done that, you would've used a Fireball, at the very least! You probably would've hit me with the same spell you used on the bandits!"

"Yeah, well, He," she jerked her thumb at Starbird, "is the one who knows where we're going and what we're doing. You're a lot more expendable." 

"That was a little harsh," said the slightly scorched young man, still fiddling with his forelocks.

"Naga tends to miss subtle things. Like a Dragu Slave, for example. Now, as I was saying, I'm surprised you haven't seen that spell before..." With that, the two Sorcery Geniuses walked off, talking shop, and left the one exceedingly miffed Sorcery Idiot Savant to follow behind.

"...So the guy was totally obsessed with creating this 'Holy Hand Grenade' thing, and he kept trying different spells to make it work, but they never did, so he ended up with a whole bunch of rejected original spells and never even thought of registering them until we suggested it. Also, there's an ambush in this clearing."

Starbird nodded, he had sensed it as well. The sun was starting to set, making it nearly the perfect time for an ambush, and the aura of hostility in the area was palpable. "We might as well call them out."

"Yeah. Hey, Whoever's out there! We know you're here, so come on out already!"

"Very well. You _are clever. Not that it will do you any good." A wizard in plain, grey and brown robes stepped into the clearing... and was followed by a group of eight juvenile Blue and Black Dragons, which rose up out of the forest at the edge of the clearing. "You may have beaten all my men, but my power far exceeds theirs!"_

"Oh, please." The flame-haired sorceress spoke up. "You're Keller, right? You've got that Hammer design on your robes. You can't be that tough, or you wouldn't need dragons to do your dirty work." she only half paid attention to his response as she muttered to Starbird. "This isn't good. They're so spread out that even with a Dragu Slave I couldn't guarantee killing them all, and if even one's left, it could blast us in the time it takes to charge up another one."

"And getting rid of Keller would just release them to go berserk, right?"

"Probably. It's likely enough that it's not worth the risk."

"I think I can handle it. Where's Naga?"

"Last time I checked, we were gaining a foot every minute, and that was about three hours ago..."

"Okay. You distract him." Starbird fell back slightly, raised a shield, and began chanting.

"Right. Hey, Keller! Is that the only trick you know?" she shouted at the man across the way.

"_Thou dark beyond the twilight skies,  
The shade of crimson blood..."_

"It's Enough! Dragons! Attack!" Two of the nearest dragons spit red flame at Lina, who jumped out of the way.

"_Thy power hid from mortal eyes  
In time's onrushing flood..."_

_I hope he knows what he's doing_, thought Lina, as she dodged another bolt of flame. _I told him a Dragu Slave wouldn't work..._

"_I make my soul a gift to thee,  
In darkness find rebirth..."_

"Foolish girl! I spent a fortune on those men! This is what you get for ruining my investment!"

"_And in return grant thou to me  
The strength to rend the earth..."_

"You should have hired better men!" _What the hell is that idiot doing?_

"_These fools who would see my fall  
Are nothing, to be less..."_

"Lina, darling... what's going on?"

"I would have thought you'd seen it enough, Naga. We need to get out of the way. Now!" Lina, with a quick Raywing spell, grabbed Naga and flew back a ways behind Starbird, who had retreated all the way to the edge of the clearing, and was now floating, shieldless, some dozen feet off the ground. The flame breath followed Lina and Naga all the way back before diverting to Starbird; Lina cast Balus Wall to protect him just in time.

"_For thou and I shall crush them all  
By power we possess!"_

From where she now stood, Lina had a clear view of the magician to whom she had entrusted this task. He held his right arm, elbow cocked, at his side, the closed fist radiating dark red light. His whole body was in a stance that would have been designed to absorb recoil from that hand, had he stood on the ground rather than floating. Suddenly, he grabbed his right wrist with his other hand and thrust them both forward, opening the closed hand in the process.

"Monster Killer! SHOTGUN DRAGU SLAVE!!"

Eight beams of red light shot out from his extended hand, all at different angles, each one heading for a dragon. Each beam produced an explosion on contact, the crimson brilliance washing away the outlines and then the forms of the dragons within. However, the explosions didn't grow very large, and one could clearly see the form of Keller, intact, against the glare, half-being blown and half-flying away. When the light finally died, there were eight shallow fifty-foot craters around the perimeter of the clearing, and nothing else.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why getting in my way can be hazardous to your health. Thank you." With that, the mage's spent, unconscious body tumbled out of the sky, and was only saved a hard collision with the ground by the intervention of a grateful, redheaded agency.

Starbird woke just as the sky was getting dark enough for the stars to be seen, with a severe headache. "Someone remind me to _never cast that spell without a talisman ever again."_

"Sure. Why didn't you use talismans this time?" Lina was using a long stick to poke at the fire she'd made.

"The ones I brought aren't exactly friendly to that sort of magic. Besides, Keller would've noticed quicker." He tried to it up, winced, and settled for supporting himself on his arms.  
"Oh. Can you teach me how to cast it?" she glanced in his direction, across the fire, to see if he was okay. And to grab all the details of his response, but hey, enlightened self-interest is better than not caring at all.  
"I don't think so. I'm not really sure myself. Just... think about the beams being focused differently... It's hard to explain. Hey, it's Night." He got the rest of the way up and walked, a little shakily, to the edge of the crater in which the girls had set up camp. There, he pulled out his sword and started dragging the tip through the earth around the perimeter, muttering to himself.

"Hey, you shouldn't be up yet! You're walking like a drunkard!" there was actually a note of genuine concern in the fiery girl's voice as she spoke, standing from her position by the fire. She nearly tripped over Naga, already in her sleeping bag (another one of the supplies Starbird had insisted on buying, this time for protection against the cold in the north, though these were comfortable in temperate climates as well); but he motioned her back down.

"This way, we don't have to stand watch. It's a guardian spell, like the one at the Inn.

"Oh." She watched him finish the circle, then peer out into the night before returning to the sleeping bags. He got in his, not bothering with his forest-green pajamas, and was settling down when Lina asked him, "What was that about? That looking in the woods?"  
"Oh, I thought I saw something moving, but it was probably just some animal. G'night."  
" 'Night." And thus ended another day.

Author's Note: And thus ends another chapter. I'd like to thank MossyGirl again; it's nice to know someone is reading these. And I'm a pretty big Wrede fan myself, especially of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Not only are the chapter titles done in that style, I've got a character or four based on the idea of Fire-Witches, and I'm still trying to think of a way to work in something like the Frying Pan of Doom (From the short story "Utensile Strength" in "Book of Enchantments"). Sadly, I'm not really past my Block; I'm just burning buffer.

To anyone else out there, if any of that made no sense at all, look at the reviews of the story. Then, after learning what I'm talking about, notice how few there are. Leave one as a token of your pity. Please?

1) For the record, I don't own the Holy Hand Grenade any more than I own Slayers, and if you don't know who does, shame on you. I would have put this in the Disclaimer, but it would have upset the Zen-Koanish tone.

2) I realize it's out of character for Naga to be able to control her magic, but recall that Sylphiel was able to blow open walls with Flare Arrow - for a whole half an episode in the first season. Then it's back to carrots.

3) Starbird casts his spells a little bit oddly, as you might have noticed. He frequently adds an additional phrase, in the common tongue, between the incantation (in Chaos Words) and the name of the spell (The Words of Power). It's different for each spell or spell family: For Dragu Slave, it's "Monster Killer." For most of the spells in the Fireball series (Including Burst Flare and Blast Bomb), it's "Explosive Burn." He only uses them when he uses the incantation, not when he's quick-casting, and sometimes not even then. The most likely function of the phrase, besides dramatics (which is probably a big part of it), is that of a _Kiai_ in martial arts- it helps focus energy. Just in case you were wondering.

Next Chapter: The first of the crazy NPCs (Keller doesn't count, and this guy's crazier anyway).

EXTRA

Or, Stuff You Wish Was On the DVDs

The Starbird Chronicles: Spellbook

Once again, This EXTRA is a listing of all the original spells I use in the Story. Any spell not listed here can be found at either Slayers Universe or QP's Slayers page (addresses in previous chapters), some with spelling variations (Slayers Universe lists Freeze Brid as a variant spelling for Freeze Bullet). The style of these entries is still from the Slayers Universe magic resource. Without Further Ado:

Slayers Spells A to Z: The Starbird Chronicles, Chapter 4-6

Diem Breath (dimu buresu)

Category: Shamanism / Air

Note: also seems to call on Water Shamanism, but Weakly.

Causes a cool wind to circulate through a fixed area. Basically Air conditioning for any old area, even outside. At maximum power, it might numb someone's skin for an hour or so. The wind can never knock over a human unless massively boosted. 

Digu Brand (digu burando)

Also known as: Digger Brand, Digu Brando, Eruption Array 

Category: Shamanism / Earth

Note: Calls upon both Earth and Fire Shamanism

This spell is a version of Dill Brand modified by the addition of fire magic. The effect is about the same, causing a circle of earth to erupt skyward with enough force to take several humans with it; however, the eruption also produces a blast of flame powerful enough to seriously hurt, though probably not kill, anyone caught in the radius. Unlike Dill Brand, this spell is almost never cast with the caster at the center, as he or she would most likely be injured by the blast.

Heat Fang (hiito fangu)

Category: Shamanism / Air

Note: Calls on both Air and Fire Shamanism

Combining the power of a Fire Spirit with a form very much like Wind Brid or Bram Gush, this spell creates one arrow or several arrowheads of superheated air which burst on contact, usually causing the target to catch on fire. The arrows are nearly invisible except in mist; they appear as heat distortion in the air. This spell is not very useful against most stone, but it can make metal too hot to hold on to with a direct hit.

"Wind, Flame; Focus all thy power in my hands! HEAT FANG!!"

Shotgun Dragu Slave (shottogan doragu sureibu)

Also known as: Dragu Slave Spread Shot

Category: Black / Offensive

Note: This spell, while technically no more different from the normal Dragu Slave than any of Lina's Fireball variants are from the basic Fireball, the functional difference is such that I thought it deserved a separate entry.

The Shotgun Dragu Slave is a variant of the original spell designed to hit multiple targets. The spell is no more powerful than the normal Dragu Slave, and therefore requires no more actual energy. However, it does require vastly greater focus, and the mental energy to focus that much is beyond most people. The difference is due to the fact that in the basic spell, the vast majority of the power is bled off (read: wasted) in the collateral damage of the explosion; the beam, which does the direct damage, is significantly less than half. The Shotgun Dragu Slave, with enhanced focus, transfers all but a little of the power into direct damage and uses the power to split it into six to twelve separate beams of power nearly equal to the normal spell, each in a different direction (but all more or less forward). Very few people have the focus to cast this spell variant, and it is mentally and physically exhausting to do, especially without a talisman. 

(Incantation is the same as the normal Dragu Slave)


	8. Chapter 7: In Which The Journey Is Both ...

Disclaimer: I own Slayers, but only on Opposite Day.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 7: The Next Morning, in the Crater

It turns out that Naga, when she isn't drunk or hung-over, is an early riser. So, since there hadn't been any booze available after the fight with Keller, she was the first one up the next morning. She walked to the edge of the clearing carrying her stuff, intending to get dressed and the like. However, no sooner had she stepped out of the circle of protection (which, as those who are keeping track will recall, she did not know about, having already been asleep when it was put up), than her body was enveloped by a slightly slimy, pliable substance that was nonetheless too tight and firm to escape from, as her struggles revealed. She opened her mouth to scream, but choked on the horrendous smell the substance exuded; it covered her mouth before she got a second chance. Suddenly, the stuff started moving at a rapid pace. Naga's last thought before she fainted was that texture of the mass felt vaguely like tofu.

It was two hours later when the other two travelers awoke to find Naga's sleeping bag and other bags gone - along with the woman herself, of course. They waited for her to get back for all the time it took Lina to get changed (on opposite sides of a hastily-erected barrier made from the sleeping bags) and pack up their stuff. Since this took over half an hour (most of which was spent trying to keep the barrier up), they were a bit worried that she had not yet returned.

"This just isn't like her," Lina said. "Normally, she doesn't give me a moment's peace." She thought for a few moments. "Of course, she usually drinks herself to sleep and is too hung-over to get up before I do..."

"They're faint, but her footprints are here," Starbird replied, following a line from a few feet away to the edge of the crater. "They disappear just outside the circle of protection, though I don't think she took off. There's no wind-scuffing."

 "We should probably search the area; there's no knowing what that silly idiot's gotten herself into. You take that side," Lina sighed, pointing in the general direction of where Starbird already was. "I should have known she'd be too much trouble..." she muttered, walking off in the direction opposite the one she had indicated.

Starbird stuck his sword into the groove of the enchantment and muttered an incantation to reabsorb the magic. That done, he walked into the woods, extending his senses to search for the unaccounted-for sorceress. However, he had only searched for a few minutes when he heard a sharp shout from the direction in which Lina had headed. He rushed toward the sound, cutting across the crater and out the other side. He only got a few dozen steps on the other side before he was struck hard in the back by a heavy mass that reeked of rancid tofu.

"What the hell..." the mass pinned him to the ground, but he could look up and see Lina, held in the presumed arm of a truly massive, vaguely humanoid form that glistened white in the sunlight. The form's other arm is what held him down, and its smell was starting to get to him; he could see mold growing on it. Lina had apparently already succumbed to the fumes, as her head lolled in near-unconsciousness, mouth covered, nose nearly buried in the spoiled tofu from which their assailant was, apparently, made. It picked him up, and started moving at a rapid pace into the forest before he gave in to the lack of breathable air.

Fresh air assaulted Lina's nostrils, and she found herself flying through the air. She landed before she could panic; fortunate, as she landed on a pile of literally thousands of picked flowers that a panic would probably have caused her to miss. Starbird wasn't as lucky; a misguided attempt at a Levitation spell caused him to overshoot the pile and land rather harder on the floor of the cave into which they had been thrown. Lina got up to help him over to the pile, but by the time she got him there, their abductor had already rolled a large rock into place, blocking the entrance of the cave. It fit well enough that only a little bit of light could get in around the edges, and no one could get out without blasting it; and even Lina knew better than to cause an explosion in a cave when you don't know how solid the roof is (unless it's _really_ an emergency). By this dim light, she could see the third occupant of the cave in the middle of a pile of bottles that were most likely full the night before; of course, the volume of the snores coming from that direction made vision largely unnecessary. 

"Well, we found Naga, at least," Starbird remarked. 

"We got found by the same thing as Naga, you mean," Retorted Lina.

"Yeah, whatever." Starbird was still prodding various areas of his back and side, trying to determine if he was injured or just shaken up by the landing, and not paying much attention to Lina.

"...Any idea where we are?" Lina asked, lying back on the pile.

"Well, we're definitely in a cave, but beyond that, I ran out of air before I got a good sense of what direction that golem was taking us."

"That thing was a golem? I thought it was a giant slime or something... Who do you think sent it? Keller?"

"Not him. Keller used dragons; a guy who uses dragons _might use a golem made of stone or clay, but he'd more likely use an armor golem, or one made out of metal or crystal. __Never tofu._

"So the smell was just spoiled tofu?"

"Yes. Anyway a guy who would make a golem out of tofu wouldn't use dragons. He'd use an army of plush dolls, or a fleet of heavy-armor assault penguins or something."

"So we're dealing with a certified loony?"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

"Well, at least Naga's happy." Lina pointed in the direction of the other sorceress, who still slept, chest rising and falling with each breath, a smile... plastered... on her face.

"Yeah, but I don't envy her the headache she'll have when she wakes up."

"So, we're captured by a tofu golem, tossed in a cave, and sealed in. What happens next?" The fiery sorceress's question was answered when the boulder blocking the door suddenly became translucent, then slumped to the ground just like a too-large block of gelatin (for a reason that will be quite obvious to anyone who has read the previous chapters), revealing a rather short sorceror in a tall, pointy hat and robes that hid his build, all in an eye-hurting yellow, green, and orange paisley pattern.

"Where could that stupid thing be?" the garishly-attired magic user asked, rhetorically, in a voice that sounded mad in both senses of the word. "How could I not notice it...?"

"Oi! Who're you?" Starbird's question seemed to bring the man back in touch with reality.

"Oh, great. People."

"Well _that's_ certainly a pleasant greeting," the flame-haired sorceress growled, matching ball of energy in hand.

The man blinked as if totally oblivious to his mortal peril. "Oh, no, not at all... hey, you're probably going to think I'm weird for this..."  
"For this? What about the robes and the gelatin trick?" Lina, of course.

"but, have you two seen a golem around here? Made of Tofu? Probably spoiled?"

"Oh, yeah... I might have seen it, in fact, I think it _ambushed me and my companions and chucked us headlong into a cave!" Starbird was clearly annoyed. In fact, incensed might be a better word._

"Oh, dear." Suddenly the three conscious people heard the approach of heavy footsteps; the newcomer ran out of the cave, and the other two heard his voice, punctuated by damp wheezes from the construct he clearly addressed. "Soya, what have you got now? Is that a wheelbarrow? Put it down this instant!" There was a loud crash at this point, presumably from a wheelbarrow hitting the ground after being dropped from a height Starbird estimated at 25 feet (i.e., the golem's shoulders). "Come here," the sorcerer's voice said, and Starbird noticed the twitch inside that magic was being performed. "There, all clean. Now, go back to the tower and _wait until I get there to do anything_. Got it?" The only reply was the sound of the golem's heavy footsteps retracing their path away from the cave. The man with the wacky robe returned, wringing the hat in his hands and revealing his platinum-blond hair. "Sorry about that. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lewis Gable, the Great Mage."

"Great mage? I thought they were given colors." This from Lina Inverse, alias Lina the Pink (but never to her face, unless you want to die).

"Well, the council didn't agree unanimously on whether my achievements - Soya, there, was my masterwork - qualified me for the role, so they gave me a pattern instead. I'm Gable the Paisley."

"Aren't you the one they call Lew the mad? The one who invented the chatterbox curse?" the paisley-patterned personage winced at Starbird's comment, and when he spoke, it was in a wounded voice.

"How did you know about that?"

"I ran into someone who was constantly running at the mouth, and he was all too pleased to tell the story of how Lew the mad had ruined his life by cursing him to never be able to stop talking."

"Ah, well, you seem to know me; who might you be?"

""He's Starbird, the Bimbo in the bottles is Naga the Serpent, and I'm Lina Inverse." As soon as the words left Lina's mouth, she regretted them. Gable's eyes grew large and sparkly, and he spoke with a dreamy tone in his voice.

"_The_ Lina Inverse? The Goddess of Destruction? The One-That-Dragons-Will-Straddle-Rather-Than-Tread-Upon? Why, you must come to my tower for tea!" then, aside: "Granted, she's not as tall or well-built as I expOUCH! What was that for?"

"Rule Number one in dealing with me: Don't mention anything about me that is smaller - or bigger - than usual. Normally, I expect people to figure it out by themselves, but I can make an exception just this once, on account of terminal obliviousness. Now, where is this tower?"

"Quite a ways north, but it's only a couple hours by flying tablecloth!" He pulled out a rather frayed linen tablecloth from his pack.

"That thing _flies_?" Lina said, dubious.

"Oh, yes." Lina didn't put set great stock by the eccentric sage's word, but Starbird's look was clearly one of 'what have we got to lose,' and the idea of rapid travel in approximately the right direction for free did have its appeal, as did the promised free meal, even if it was with a rabid fanboy(TM). So, the adventurers got their stuff together (including Naga) and arranged themselves on the tablecloth. Surprisingly, it lifted off without a hitch, and they set off for Gable's tower.

The four mages sat around the table in the dining room of Gable's tower, Naga sipping something Gable had said would help her with her (massive) hangover, the others drinking Tea and nibbling on chocolate chunks. Okay, so Lina was stuffing her face. Call it artistic license. Or whatever.

"So, why do they call you Lew the Mad?" Lina asked, around a mouthful of chocolate.

"Well, it's a lot like why the council wouldn't give me a color title - my inventions are just so unorthodox, people have a hard time taking them - and, by connection, me - seriously." The host was apparently something closer to sane after returning to the tower to find the Golem waiting patiently outside the door (somehow; they'd been going quite fast), and everything else in the proper place (he'd checked twice). Naturally, this made him easier to talk to.

"What sort of things?" Starbird inquired. "I mean, besides the chatterbox curse."

"Er, I actually count that as a failure. It was supposed to be a truth charm combined with a compulsion-to-speak, but the 'truth' bit got lost in there somewhere. Let's see... there's also the Never-Empty Burrito Bag; the Tofu Golem, of course; the One-Shot Transformation Masks, the Beautifier Shadow Reflector; and the magical armor."

"How do they object to magical armor?" Naga groaned.

"They said it didn't fit the standards of appearance."

"Eh?"

"The best ones look like underwear."

"Ah."

"Women's underwear."

"Aha." Naga returned to silence, nursing her abused head.

"Hey, Gable!" Lina intoned.  
"It's-not-my-fault-really-I-swear-to-the-gods-I'm-not-a-pervert-I-tried-and-tried-and-tried-but-I-couldn't-make-the-enchantment-stick-to-anything-but-lace-and-making-it-bigger-would-have-taken-way-too-much-power!"

"Relax; I was just going to ask if you had anything else to eat."

"Oh. Sorry, all I've got are some pickles and a little cottage cheese."

"Ew. What's up with that?" Even omnivorous redheads have their limits.

"See, this is what I mean!" Gable started, raising his voice. "Everybody say's I'm mad, because I make odd things! Hell, that's not mad! My _wife_ is freaking mad! Every day for twelve years, she's made my lunch, and every day, it's pickles, tofu, and chocolate, with the occasional bit of cottage cheese on the side! I'm freaking _allergic_ to tofu! I made the golem because there was twelve years' worth of tofu going bad in the storeroom! It was practically sentient on its own! I barely did more than give it a Shape! Giving your Boyfriend and Fiancé and Husband food he can't eat for lunch every day since you started dating - now _that's insane! Gable had built up to screaming at the top of his lungs, and now seemed burned out; he didn't even notice Lina's sigh of relief at the mention of a wife. "So, yeah. Soya went missing two weeks ago, about; I was working on a project and I must have sent it out to get something it couldn't find. Or maybe it just wandered off, I don't know. Anyways, I was so wrapped up in my work that I didn't even notice it was missing until Mayjay pointed it out, so I know I have to get it back. So, I go out to find it. And I find you three - I have to apologize, the big guy's useful around the tower, but brains aren't exactly its strong suit."_

"Hey, you've mentioned a wife twice, but I haven't seen anyone else around," the younger man mentioned.

"She's at home. She insists on not living too close to my experiments, on account of the high magic levels. So, I fly in every morning from our house, which is a couple miles southeast of here. By the way, you're welcome to sty here as long as you like; I know no one who hangs around with Lina Inverse is afraid of high levels of magic."

"Um, thanks; I don't think we'll stay longer than tonight. Why is it you wanted me here?" The puzzled Lina asked.

"Why, so I can say I've visited with the Legendary Lina Inverse, of course! Hmm... If you leave tomorrow morning… I'll have a tablecloth and some supplies left out for you."

"Deal," said Lina and Starbird.

"Ungh," said Naga.

Author's Note: Wow, it's been a long time. I got absolutely nothing done over summer vacation, or in the first month of school. Thus, it is only now that this chapter is brought to you, the, ahem, adoring public. Worse yet, I have no good excuse for not writing; no one died, and I didn't have any major obligations. I guess, aside from not wanting to run out of story, I was just being Lazy. Luckily, I've actually written out another chapter and got a good start on a further one since I last posted, so it should be a bit quicker this time. Also, I'm very glad that at least one person besides Mossygirl took the time to review the last chapter. And so, gentle reader, let us all follow the example of Mossygirl and Sherra-sama and leave reviews to assuage the torment in the author's soul. No, seriously, please review.

1) That mouthful Gable spouted to Lina ("The One-That-Dragons-Will-Straddle-Rather-Than-Tread-Upon") is a loose translation of what I think Dora-mata or Dra-mata (translated as "Dragon Spooker" in the Anime) is based on. Specifically, something along the lines of "Doragon wa Fumu yori Mushiro Matagu no Hito," literally "One who a dragon will straddle rather than trample," where "Dora" is from "Doragon" (Dragon, Duh), and "Mata" is from "Matagu" (To straddle), with "Fumu" (To trample), "Yori Mushiro" (Rather than) and "no Hito" (One who, roughly) added for taste. Anyone with better Japanese grammar than me and/or who knows exactly what was said in the quote to that effect in the first episode of the first season, please contact me through email or review.

2) I know everyone knows the "Smaller" things one isn't supposed to mention about Lina (Bust and Height), But what, you might ask, are the "Bigger" things? Well, there are about two and a half: eyes, forehead, and appetite (Which only counts as half, since she doesn't mind it being mentioned most of the time.

3) I don't know what age you pictured Gable as, and I know I didn't mention it, but he's 24. Yes, he started dating his current wife at the age of twelve. He proposed at sixteen, and married her a year later. (She's one year older than he is, so she was eighteen when they married). By the way, her name is Maria Jeanine Lockheart-Gable, but he calls her Mayjay. In case you were wondering. Also, she's not as bad as he might make her sound; she's quite unaware he's allergic to soy, and that he doesn't like the lunches. He never told her.

4) I don't actually know what tofu smells like as it goes bad, but I assumed it wasn't good. Am I wrong?

5) If you hadn't figured it out, this story is now entering the "traveling stage" that all true Slayers stories (By which I mean "All three seasons of the Anime") go through. Thus, stuff will happen that's not entirely related to the plot. Like this whole Gable thing. Speaking of Gable, when I promise a crazy NPC, I sure do deliver, huh? 

Next Chapter: While the Mages travel, the dedicated servant is hard at work. What? You haven't forgotten about Dulak already, have you?


	9. Chapter 8: In Which a Deal and a Discove...

Disclaimer: I Asked the Clair Bible if I owned Slayers, and It said no. Then I asked it if I would get in trouble for writing this, and it said no again. And the Clair Bible's always right, isn't it?

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 8: The Next Day, In the Town of Sybalt on the Northern Coast of Kalmaart.

The stormy skies over the northern sea rained heavy drops on the people in the streets of the largely stalled port cities on the northern coast. However, at least two people in the streets of the city of Sybalt were happy at the rain. One of them was Dulak, who was relieved that it was raining rather than hailing, as it had been as often as not since he'd arrived; hail is naturally dangerous to people with large, membranous wings.

The other... well, the other's not important quite yet.

Anyway, just because he thought it was an improvement over hail doesn't mean Dulak was overjoyed; rain is still lousy for flying in, and it tended to give him headaches. So, he was walking down the street, slightly less miserable than the day before, sulking.

People who are sulking, as any good reader knows, are subject to certain patterns of behavior; Daemon are no exception. Thus, when he came to a tavern, Dulak ducked inside without a second thought (or even a first one, really). Since he was in such a funk, it wasn't until he was sitting at the bar with a mug of hot cider that he noticed. Now, a human wouldn't have noticed even then, but as a Daemon, Dulak had sharp senses, including the ability to sense large astral presences, which brings us to exactly what it was that he noticed: There were no less than seven Mazoku in the room, and one of them was quite powerful. He knew that Mazoku of that caliber were unlikely to give a weak Daemon a hard time, but was worried at the presence of so many. _If Starbird and Lina come through here...__ This could be trouble..._ He finished his cider as quickly as possible and left. However, before he walked off, he put a sign advertising for a ship to travel too the Northern Lands on the building's wall. Just as he was about to walk off, a voice sounded behind him.

"It is you putting up these signs?" The voice sounded like air being bubbled up through water, and spoke with an accent and in a dialect it took Dulak a moment to recognize. He turned to address the speaker.

Remember the other person who was glad it was raining?

His long, thin arms and legs were the only even vaguely human thing about him. His body was nearly parallel to the ground, covered in teal and violet scales except on the limbs and where the similarly-colored fins - including two exceptionally large pectorals - stuck out. The seven-foot-long body had a strong tail at one end and a mouth and two wide eyes at the other; a belt was wrapped around it from just in front of the dorsal fin on the top to just in front of the legs on the bottom, and from that hung a sheathed cutlass.

Fishmen _like rain._

"I am Mahiru, Flying Fishman and Captain of Ship _Poisson-Rouge_. If you can help protect ship, I take you north."

"Really?"

"I not lie to you. Not lie at all."

"Well, we'll need to work out the specifics, but since I haven't gotten any other offers in eight days, it looks like you're my... Fish-man."

"Perhaps we talk in restaurant? With fewer Mazoku than here?"

"So you noticed it to, huh?"

"Mazoku in there all the time nowadays. Some not even use humanoid form."

"Oh. That's no good." The two walked off, talking, both rather happier for the exchange.

Shortly after they left, another form left the bar, this one infinitely more sinister in character. It appeared to consider two directions of travel, to the south and to the west; and chose the latter after a short time. Even this was not the last in the chain of departures; another person, this one more benevolent, exited as soon as the second was out of sight, and headed south, in a hurry.

Author's Note: This was certainly a short chapter, wasn't it? And yet I still managed to introduce three new characters, all of whom have some relevance to the plot. That's what I call efficient writing. Anyway, there's a battle scene in the next chapter I'm writing (Not to be confused with the next chapter to be posted; I've got a couple written out in advance) that's giving me a little trouble, so the next chapter may not be along for a while (Though I'll try to avoid another break like the one before Chapter 7).

And Now, a message from a reader:

Wraith (No email) Writes:

_"Good writing style, not too many mistakes. Personally though, I don't think it was realistic for Lina to be traveling alone after Next. Gourry would never just leave her alone and she likes traveling with him (G + L fan). After all they were together when Next ended and STILL together when Try began."_

Wraith also seems to love doubling final consonants before the –ing suffix; I corrected that here, because it was giving my Spellchecker a conniption.

Anyway, Wraith, I explained this obliquely in the "Meanwhile" Extra in chapter four: While it may not be perfectly Canon, I decided to have Gourry escorting Sylphiel back to Sairaag to help with reconstruction during the story, which at the same time allows Lina to be traveling alone and explains why Sylphiel _isn't_ with them at the beginning of TRY. (By the way, for the purposes of this story, Zelgadis left to follow up a lead on a possible cure, and Amelia followed him. I might write that story sometime, if I have a lot of extra time).The other reason I made it just Lina and Naga with Starbird is that I have a hard time writing a lot of characters at once; As you might be able to tell, I'm having some trouble writing Naga as it is.

1) For all you non-French-speaking peoples out there, the name of Mahiru's ship, the Poisson-Rouge, means Goldfish (Literally, "Red Fish," but those silly French people use a different idiom to address that particular variety of carp). In case you were curious.

2) The fact that 'Mahiru' means 'midday' or 'daytime' in Japanese is purely coincidental; I didn't even want his name to be Japanese. I was trying to think of a name that sounded right and came up with that; then, later, when I realized what it meant, I tried to think up a non-Japanese one, but I couldn't. Oh well.

3) As you might have guessed, Mahiru is a Fishman in the vein of Noonsa and Rahanimu, albeit with flying-fish fins; His face is as fishlike as the rest of his body, with large eyes and a fish's mouth. This stands in contrast to the fishmen in TRY, whose faces are almost humanlike from a front view.

Next Chapter: Back to the Main Characters, a couple of major Setbacks, and crazy NPC number two.


	10. Chapter 9: In Which There is Much Mixed ...

Disclaimer: It's Logic Puzzle Time! Let's start with an easy one: If the owners of Slayers are Japanese, and I am not Japanese, Do I own Slayers? (Answer: No). Here's a slightly harder one: If the point of suing someone is to get money in return for damages, and I'm not making any money from this story, and I don't have any significant savings, and I'm not doing damage with the story, should I be sued over it? (Answer: Also No). This concludes today's episode of Logic Puzzle Time.

Slayers: The Starbird Chronicles

Chapter 9: Meanwhile, in a Clearing Somewhere in the Forests of Kalmaart...

"Alright, I admit it! We're lost!" Lina shouted, exasperated.

I've been telling you that for the last four hours," replied Starbird, rather more calmly, "and I'm the one who's supposed to know where we're going." He leaned back against a nearby tree and closed his eyes.

"Uggh," groaned Naga, from the stretcher the others had set down in the center of the small (very small) clearing. She lay on her back with her hands pressed to her left thigh, bathing it in a soft, healing light. Her body was cushioned by three bags of supplies.

This is the aftermath of riding on a threadbare flying tablecloth.

Sure, the day started out well, with a good breakfast (waffles and cottage cheese with tea), courteous notes, and gift bags of supplies (including clothes enchanted against the cold of the north), and a tablecloth prepped and ready to go, if even more beat-up than the last one. In fact, even the first few hours of flight had gone smoothly. Everything went fine until Starbird, who had been steering, lost focus.

The tablecloth went berserk.

Almost twenty minutes later, after a superfast, out-of-control roller coaster ride, they crashed into the faceless forest with a new appreciation of Gable's power - it takes an incredibly well-crafted spell to resist alteration by mages of their caliber for any extended period of time (on the other hand, there's also the fact that it went out of control in the first place…). Anyway, Lina and Starbird were shaken up, and Naga got her leg broken. It was immediately after they splinted the leg and built the stretcher (both with wood knocked loose in the crash) that Starbird first contended they were lost, and Lina first denied it. Ergo, they had been wandering in the woods, lost, for four hours. With tension building for that long, it was only a matter of time before someone's temper flared.

Lina's did, quite suddenly and quite literally. Vice Flared, as a matter of fact.

Unfortunately for the travelers, her temper Vice Flared into right into a den of irritable Iron Boars, a half-dozen of which came out of the woods to ward them, waving their tusks and snorting menacingly.

"Crap," said Lina and Starbird, simultaneously.

"Ungh," groaned Naga. She would have said "crap" too, but she was only vaguely lucid; the healing spell she was using, in addition to repairing flesh and bone, acted as a powerful anesthetic.

Iron boars are tough customers; their bristly, metallic hide makes them resistant to many types of magic, and their tusks are extremely hard and sharp. Also, it's hard to fight when you have to protect an injured companion, especially when you could get trampled into the ground in the time it would take to pick said companion up. So, when the beasts started charging, they did the only thing they could think of:

"WINDY SHIELD!"  
"WINDY SHIELD!"

Actually, they might have gotten away had they just left Naga and run, and indeed there are precedents for that sort of act in Lina's previous behavior, but for some reason (knowing Starbird wouldn't leave her and not wanting _him_ to get trampled, most likely), she stayed and helped protect the invalid.

On the other hand, two people with Windy Shield spells can't hold off a singular of Iron Boars forever; they can break through if they gang up, and they get clever fast. So, as the shields started to show signs of weakening, the mages started using Dimilar Wind to blow them away instead. However, the boars were a bit too clever. Suddenly, the tusks of the sole remaining boar, the alpha male by the looks of it, were dug into the ground on either side of Naga.

Of course, the rest of the boar was another six feet away, with a significant quantity of tall, green-haired man-with-a-longsword in between.

"Now," he said, tapping the beast's shoulder with the flat of his sword's large, shiny blade, "scram."

In any sane world, and with any sane type of monster, he would have been trampled for that; so, of course, the boar ran off into the woods, squealing the proverbial "Wee wee wee all the way home."

Trouble thus neatly averted, the stranger sheathed his sword and turned to face them.

"They're very sensitive about their tusks," he said, quite matter-of-factly and presumably by way of introduction.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" replied Lina, true to form.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'm Lees. Lees Grensword. Swordsman Itinerant for the greater Kataart region. I saw your explosion, so I came to investigate. I'm afraid," he glanced around at the scorched forest that had been the victim of Lina's temper, "that I'm going to have to issue a reprimand for this kind of damage."

"Do you..." Lina began, indignantly, but Starbird interrupted her.

"Wait, did you say we're in _Kataart_?" he asked, incredulously.

"Huh? No, I said I _work_ in Kataart. Right now, we're about a day's travel from the marked border between Kataart and Kalmaart." Lees sounded as though he'd had to explain this more than once before.

"Oh, great. We were heading to north_eastern_ Kalmaart when we got lost," Starbird returned.

"Really? If you're lost, I can take you to a town near here." Replied Lees, helpfully. "It's on the way to where I'm going, and I was planning on spending the night there anyway"

"We'd be very grateful." Starbird bowed slightly.

Lees suddenly started walking off. When he noticed no one was following, he turned around. "Well, come on, then," he beckoned them.

Lina stared at him, bewildered. _This guy's almost as big a flake as Gourry_. "Aren't you going to reprimand us? Or at least find out who we are?"

"Good point. Who are you?"

"I'm the beautiful sorcery genius, Lina Inverse; this," she pointed to Starbird, "is Starbird, also a sorcery genius, and not half bad looking, even if his hair's a little weird. And the goth-queen on the stretcher is Naga the Serpent."

"Oh, you have an injured companion?" Lees replied, somewhat hastily. "I hadn't noticed her. We'd better hurry."

"Aren't you going to reprimand us?" There was a definite tone of challenge in Lina's voice.

Lees gulped. "Um. We have to get your friend out of the wild as quickly as possible. So, maybe later." _Also, from what I've heard, you'd probably blast _me_ if I did. Besides, with your reputation, it's lucky you didn't burn the whole forest down_. But he didn't voice these thoughts. He may have been a bit of a flake, but he wasn't an idiot.

By the time they reached the town, which was called Ralz, It was already dark, and they were hungry. Thus, after dropping Naga off at the local healer's, they went to a likewise local tavern, where Lees insisted on buying drinks for the others and, not wanting to be rude, they accepted. A few hours later, we come upon the following scene: Lina buried in her food, Lees eating more politely (but just as fast, judging by the relative size of their stacks of empty plates), and Starbird, well... Starbird doesn't have very high alcohol tolerance.

"Y'know, Lina, they've got a song about you..." he said, slurring only slightly.

"Excuse me," said Lees, "I need to use the restroom."

"Really?" said Lina, mouth full (of course).

"Yeah." Starbird grinned, looking pleased with himself.

Lina swallowed. "How's it go?"

"You'll like this," Starbird replied, and launched into the familiar rhythm of a slightly off-key drinking song:

"We ~ 'll drink a drink a drink  
To Lina the Pink the Pink the Pink  
The terror of the Human Ra-ha-hace  
She fights villains and monsters  
With her terrible powers  
And was victorious in every case!

Well here's a story  
That can never be boring…"

He was so caught up in his song that he didn't notice the growing light across the table.

Halfway across town, Lees Grensword (Who also knew the song) smiled and shook his head as a plume of flame erupted from the tavern.

Author's Note: Yay, another chapter! Another chance to draw in new readers, who will appreciate my work and review it! Aw, who am I kidding? Anyway, I got through the scene I was having trouble with in the chapter after next, and am quite satisfied with the effect, so I anticipate less problems after that. On the other hand, I'm Beta-reading a fanfic for someone else, and plan to do the next chapter of that before I type the next chapter of this. Anyway, the next few chapters, starting with the one before this, will be basically alternating between main character chapters and elsewhere chapters; not necessarily with every other one, but mostly. This means that the next chapter will be shorter again, while the one after it, the one that I was having problems with, is quite long. Just so you know what's going on. I look forward to any reviews you people feel like writing.

1) "Singular" is the word for a group of boars (Like "Pod" for Dolphins, or "Pride" for Lions), not out of ironic perversity, but because seeing boars in a group is a "Singular" occurrence. Of course, this is less true for Iron Boars, which rarely travel alone. The reason I used boars? Well, frankly, I used Dragons before, I'll be using them again, and I wanted something different. And boars with bristles like Iron fit the bill for both originality and Magic Resistance, which was also needed (otherwise, they could have beaten them easily).

2) The town of Ralz is pronounced as Ralts, with a German-type z. Just so you know, y'know?

3) The song Starbird was singing is by me; it's a Slayers version of the Irish Drinking song "Lily the Pink," specifically as recorded by The Irish Rovers. The full version is also on this site, at Story ID 1274015, though that version could not have been composed before the beginning of TRY.

4) Referring back to Gable's Idea of "Dra-Mata," It seems the versions in the Anime are rather less elaborate. Saman, in the first episode, doesn't get much out before Lina threatens him, but the Bandits in Perfect/The Motion Picture say something that sounds like "Ano naka komodama de Doragon sae mo yokete mataide to aru ga iu." I don't understand it perfectly, and I'm not sure about the where all the words break, especially in the first bit, but my best guess is that it's something along the lines of "One whom it's said that even a Dragon would straddle in order to avoid." (For the record, "Dora" is still from "Doragon," and "Mata" is still from "Matagu" (in the form of "Mataide")). Gable, on the other hand, clearly made up his own version of the moniker. There's another useless piece of information/speculation for you to consider.

Next Chapter: 'Something Wicked This Way Comes.' Or rather, 'That Way Goes.' Or maybe 'Is What We're Dealing With Here.' I dunno, and I don't particularly want Shakespeare, or whoever wrote his stuff if he didn't, turning over in his/her grave, so I'll stop now. At any rate, In the next chapter, we get to meet a Villain, and a real one, not just some stupid Bandit Boss.


End file.
